Verge In Action

We’re excited to launch Communities Driving Change, a new BHPN initiative advancing community-driven data approaches!

Unexamined and unchallenged norms of power and privilege limit everyone’s ability to reduce inequities, but the professions of planning, community development, and public health can have direct impact on individual quality of life. In this webinar, Tamika L. Butler, Ascala Sisk, Vedette Gavin, and Odetta MacLeish-White describe how they use their full humanity to sustain their fight for equity, and call on planners to be brave regarding power and privilege in the spaces where we work. This wide-ranging conversation includes personal and professional history and identity, self-reflection and examination, identifying unspoken norms, taking a stand, and understanding and changing systems.

What we’re learning about neighborhood change and health through our research.

This is part one of two episodes discussing the Healthy Neighborhoods Study, a 7-year multidisciplinary, multi-site participatory action research (PAR) project focused on neighborhood change, climate-related exposures, community resilience, and health equity in 9 low-income, racially/ethnically diverse communities in metropolitan Boston. In this episode we hear from the team leading the study about neighborhood improvement, community resilience, and the importance of community collaborators as valued voices to inform and lead change within their neighborhoods.

This is episode two continuing the conversation about the Healthy Neighborhoods Study, a 7-year multidisciplinary, multi-site participatory action research (PAR) project focused on neighborhood change, climate-related exposures, community resilience, and health equity in 9 low-income, racially/ethnically diverse communities in metropolitan Boston. In this episode our guests share their experiences as researchers, friends, and community members, the concept of ‘naming the player, naming the game’, including how they work to understand the influence of investors and their accountability on neighborhood development projects.

During this discussion, the speakers dive into the participatory action research (PAR) process and explain how PAR can support a community first model by prioritizing the experience of residents when evaluating what matters most for the health of a community. This approach can be used to impact neighborhood change so that it shifts power to residents, helping them gain more control over developments in their communities. The speakers discuss how institutions working to prioritize community voice and engagement should identify their impacts on neighborhoods, create safe spaces, and build trust with residents to create meaningful investments that benefit those who are impacted.

Docuseries featuring resident researchers from the Healthy Neighborhoods Study.

Docuseries featuring resident researchers from the Healthy Neighborhoods Study.

African Americans in Public Policy: The Past, Present and Future. A Glenn College Webinar Series. Join the John Glenn College of Public Affairs as we engage in conversation with Black Americans about a range of policy issues. This three-part webinar series aims to increase awareness of the experiences of Black Americans in the past and present, and what work needs to be done by future leaders.

The Network’s Manager of Strategic Programs and Research, Renee Roy Elias, moderated a rich discussion with four prominent leaders: Vedette Gavin, MPH, MPA, Director of Research and Partnerships, Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund / Conservation Law Foundation; Tiffany Manuel, PhD, Vice President – Knowledge, Impact, & Strategy, Enterprise Community Partners; Jessica Mulcahy, MA, Director, Success Measures Philanthropic Evaluation Strategies, Success Measures at NeighborWorks America; Carley Riley, MD, MPP, MHS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the 100 Million Healthier Lives Metrics Hub.