Community Voices Panel: Shifting Power

This webinar explores ways to empower and elevate the voice of community members in cross-sector aligning efforts.

In July and August, Aligning Systems for Health at the Georgia Health Policy Center, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reviewed and synthesized learnings about aligning across sectors from the past year, leading to a new design for the visualization of the Cross-Sector Alignment Framework. This evaluation highlighted the importance of four adaptive factors, including power dynamics, community voices, trust, and equity.

As part of a virtual event series on these adaptive factors, the last event focused on elevating community voices and shifting power when aligning sectors. This event on Thursday, April 1, 2021, featured community members and leaders from Lake County Build a Generation (Lake County, Colorado); Healthier Highland (Gastonia, North Carolina); and Proviso Partners for Health (Proviso Township, Illinois).

Keynote: Community Voices Panel: Shifting Power

Elevating community voices helps ensure that lasting change is driven by and for the community. This is particularly true for improving health locally, as the health care, public health, and social service sectors are aligning to work together in new ways.  

On Thursday, April 1, participants learned how three communities—Lake County, Colorado; Gastonia, North Carolina; and Proviso Township, Illinois—are intentionally empowering and elevating the voices of members of their communities as they work to align sectors. This engaging panel featured diverse perspectives from organizational leaders and community members who will offer practical takeaways and lessons learned along the way.

Participants learned how to shift power so that community members are invested in setting priorities and shaping solutions, how elevating the voices of the community is central to addressing racial equity, and much more. 

Speakers:

• Lake County Build a Generation (Lake County, Colorado): Katie Baldassar (Executive Director) and Vanessa DeLira (Community Connector)
• Proviso Partners for Health (Proviso, Illinois): Lena Hatchett, PhD (Co-Founder and Executive Lead) and Christopher Epps (Garden Manager)
• Healthier Highland (Gastonia, North Carolina): Vincent Wong (Director of Community Services, City of Gastonia) and Donyel Barber (Community Health Coordinator, Kintegra Health and Gastonia City Councilwoman) 
• Moderator: Tiffany Manuel, PhD, president and CEO of The CaseMade, which equips emerging leaders in all walks of life to build a world where everyone thrives.