Blue Shield Foundation of California: Equity in Multisector Collaboration Toolkit

Toolkit Outlines Methods to Implement Equity in Multi-Sector Collaboration

By Blue Shield Foundation of California

Abstract

Communities must come together in new ways to achieve equity

Our communities continue to face enormous and complex challenges: a global COVID-19 pandemic; the fight for racial justice; and housing, economic, and climate change crises, to name a few. Tragically, certain members of our communities suffer these challenges in compounded ways. The COVID-19 pandemic once again laid bare the fractious reality of our inequitable society as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people suffered higher rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from the virus. Violent and racist attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased as xenophobia and bigotry escalated during the pandemic. These experiences are tied to long-standing systemic racism and inequities in social determinants of health, such as income, health care access, education, and housing – and what impacts one group in the community impacts everyone in the community. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control declared racism a serious public health threat, driving severe, far-reaching, and unacceptable racial and ethnic health disparities.

Equity – across intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and others – is the key to healthier, just, and more vibrant communities.