[Tricia Kitzmann]- Welcome everyone to the twelfth installment of Building Health Equity Webinar Series, Advancing Health, Equity and Social Justice in the Workplace. The objectives for today's discussion are: discuss current issues related to equity and social justice in the workplace. Learn about the importance of a diverse workforce- excuse me- learn about the importance of a diverse workforce and how it relates to workplace culture of social justice, explore potential partnerships and trainings to promote equity in the workplace. I'm Tricia Kitzmann. I am a program coordinator with the Institute for Public Health Practice at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. I am going to now have our guest speakers introduce themselves, and then we will kind of move into our question and answer session. Jamin, do you want to go first?

[Jamin Johnson]- Sure, thank you. So, first of all, I want to apologize for... I'm looking a little bit dark on the screen. I'm in a borrowed office today, so I apologize for that. My name is Jamin Johnson. I am the division chief of equity and planning at the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha, Nebraska, and I am so honored to be here with you today.

[Tricia]- Wonderful, thank you. Maria.

[Maria Torres]- Hello, my name is Maria Torres and I'm the health equity coordinator for Pottawattamie County Public Health, and like I was telling them earlier, if you hear a screaming child, he is fine. I am currently working from home because he is sick. So, you know, as long as you don't see me freaking out, we're good.

[Tricia]- Wonderful. Well, I think if anything we've learned through COVID and doing webinars and Zoom meetings, we know how to pivot, right? And we also know we expect to have some sort of background noise here and there and everywhere. So, no worries! I'll go ahead and kind of jump into the questions. Maria, I'll jump off and start with you first, and then, Jamin, we'll go to you. But, Maria, give us some of your background. How did you get started working in health equity and what exactly does your day-to-day look like? What do you do for your career?

[Maria]- So, to be completely honest, this was very unplanned, you know, how I fell into this position. I started helping out public health with interpretation and translation for the Hispanic/Latino community way back in 2020. So that's how I fell, you know, and that's when I noticed that this was my passion, like just wanting to help people, and it all started because of my own community. Like knowing, you know, like we had been so neglected for so many years, like even living here for 20 years it was one of the things that I noticed that there was zero communication, but it was information falling from word of mouth, and it was a friend of a friend of a friend. So that's what made me more comfortable into the, "look I want to make sure that we're also getting that communication," because it's only fair that we all get the same thing. And once this position came open, you know, my administrator and the director of my department, they talked to me about it and they were like, "we think that this position would be amazing for you, you know, it is something that you're passionate about." So it was just like a blessing in disguise. And I... that's what I want to do. I want to be able to help people because I am part of that community. I know what it feels like. And currently, you know, one of the things that I have been doing is just joining boards, just making sure like, "hey, are you remembering my community? Not just my community, but other communities that we know that are here in Iowa... well, not just here in Iowa, but nationally.

[Tricia]- Wonderful. Jamin, same question. Give us a little bit of your background. How did you get into your area of work and what does kind of your day-to-day look like?

[Jamin]- Sure. So, very similar to Maria. I... it was somewhat unplanned. So I started out my career actually in law enforcement and I did that for 11 years and then transitioned to a state health department. And while I was working in a state health department, that's when my heart and my passion for maternal and child health really caught fire. And I realized very quickly that there are a lot of people in our communities that, that are left without a voice. And, you know, it kind of opened my eyes when I saw that children didn't have a voice. And then I will say that sort of the key moment in my life in which I realized that I needed to make a career pivot in my public health career was the death of George Floyd. It impacted me professionally, but it impacted me personally in pretty profound ways in which I realized that, that I had a responsibility to use my voice and my experiences to elevate the voice and experiences of the people around me. And so that was one of the central events within my professional life that kind of drew me into working in health equity full-time. And so then I transitioned to the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha in an inaugural role- that's a hard word for me- a brand new role as a health equity advisor here at the county. Being able to advise the board of health and leadership within the department and that sort of transitioned into, a leadership role within a division here at our health department. And my day-to-day really looks like... no two days look alike. You know, I spend a good bit of my time still really focused on the impacts of maternal mortality and infant mortality. I think that it's really, it's really telling and easy to see that there's an disproportionate impact on the Black and Latinx communities as it relates to people just dying in childbirth. And so I find myself in that space quite a bit, but I also have leveraged my role to take a leadership role within our department looking at quality improvement and performance management so that we can embed health equity principles into all of the work that we do across our department to make it a central value of our department moving forward. So I find myself just stepping into any and every space that I can find an open door.

[Tricia]- Awesome. Thank you both. So as we're talking about health equity and social justice, what are the current pressing issues related to equity and social justice in the workplace? Maria, I'll start with you.

[Maria]- You know, this one I feel like is communication. For Iowa, I know that it's known that there's 180 languages that we have here, and somehow there's only... we are just picking and choosing a few that we are putting out there, but we're not thinking about our entire community, like everyone that we are serving, you know, and that's how we are... we're missing that and we need to make sure that we are coming back to it and have that given to everyone equally.

[Tricia]- Jamin, same question for you.

[Jamin]- Yeah, I think, I think Maria's answer was wonderful. I think the reality is we cannot stop our pursuit of language access. It is an area where we feel like we get two or three people within our department that can speak a language outside of English, and we feel like we've checked the box and can move on. And the reality is we are not meeting the needs of the community that has placed the trust in us. I also think from a workplace standpoint, like we're looking at workforce equity translates into the way in which we pursue and fight for health equity within our community and I see... I see a need for us to, as a profession, to make sure that we are building a public health workforce that is diverse and that is representative of the communities in which we serve. And I don't think that's an area where we maybe push hard enough on. I think there's a lot of work and growth to do there. And then I think we also have to look at, you know, the roles in which our diverse public health workforce are relegated. We don't see a lot of people with diverse backgrounds moving into positions of middle management or leadership. And it's not because they're not capable, it's simply because we as a system have not opened up those opportunities and there definitely still exists a glass ceiling that is a barrier to really skilled practitioners being able to move into those leadership positions that can drive change within a community, so...

[Tricia]- Well, you've kind of touched on the next piece, so, Jamin, I'll start with you. In your opinion, why is it important to have a diverse workforce? How do we benefit? how does the community benefit when we have a diverse workforce?

[Jamin]- Sure. You know, the simple answer is you can never have too many opinions and too many ideas. We don't serve a monolithic community. We serve a diverse and robust community. And when we try and serve that diverse community with a monolithic system, we are missing perspectives. We are, as a profession, pretty good at showing up with a preconceived idea of what the problem probably is before we even get there, and by valuing diversity within our workforce, we can kind of fight against that notion that we come bearing the solution to a problem that might not even exist within those communities. So I think that's one part and the other really is that we can never have too many thoughts and ideas on, on ways to improve our community and it's incumbent upon us to allow for broad representation of our community to have a voice and a seat at the table within our departments, and so I think that is really the central impact and import of having a really diverse and balanced workforce.

[Tricia]- Maria?

[Maria]- I will echo what Jamin said, and also, you know, add that it brings a perspective and a different point of view, especially if you're not part of that community. We're not... you know, what is working with one community may not work with another community. And it's nice to have that perspective of like, "hey, I have an idea. What about this instead of this?" That's what I see. You know, especially- I wrote notes on here- especially, you know, now that I am working for the health department. The first thing that I heard several times now it's, "well, without you I wouldn't know to change the language or to instead to always... to have your flyers in Spanish," because I'm always like, "hey, are we doing that in Spanish too? Or it's just one?" And that's when they're like, "oh, actually, you know, this is the way that it has always been and now that we have you here we think more about it." So, it's having... making sure that we're all thinking about it. We're not the only ones in, you know, here within the states we're not the only community. We are serving, I mean, thousands of people that do not speak our language. And we have to be also, you know... think about the fact that there are people that do not know how to read. So how can we get them involved? What about those who sign language? How are we reaching those populations? Because I think that that's where we need those connections of how can we help, how can we integrate ourselves within that community to be able to serve better?

[Tricia]- Thank you. Definitely touching on, you know, one of the roles that public health plays is the connector, right? Is connecting ourselves or inserting ourselves into communities so we can be those connections and definitely as we have or improve the diversity of our workforce, I think that just improves the culture of not only the organization, but the cultures that they reach within their communities, right? So not just a cultural difference, but addressing the equity and the inequities across the community that we serve. Just want to remind folks, take a quick breather real quick, and remind folks if you have questions as we go through today, please feel free to put your questions in the chat. Also, feel free to put it in the Q&A. Myself, Cynthia, and Natalie will be monitoring those and so make sure we get your questions to the panelists as we move through today. So next question- what training do you recommend to public health or other health professionals who want to improve their understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion? Jamin, I'll start with you.

[Jamin]- Sure. So there are a few that I recommend. I think that the Racial Equity Institute, or REI, is a tremendous resource. They have sort of a... a shorter deep dive and then they have a more in-depth training that I think is really valuable and would recommend to anyone. And it is is definitely something that within my health department, we do find it to be valuable and rely upon. And then I would also say that there's an organization called Human Impact Partners, and they are a tremendous wealth of knowledge and understanding. They have some tailored trainings that can be kind of... sort of off-the-shelf, off-the-rack training, but then they also have some customizable trainings and they do provide some amazing consultation and support. And I think that that's really key, being able to have someone or a group of people who can kind of journey with you as an organization or even just as a person, as you have questions and need to kind of digest what you're learning, to have that support is really critical. And so I have found Human Impact Partners to be just a vital resource for me as I've moved through my career.

[Tricia]- Jamin, do they charge for training? Do you know?

[Jamin]- So they do charge for training, but they also publish... they're really good about publishing their training schedule. So if they are posting or facilitating a training for others and they have open seats, they do a great job of making sure to let people know and to fill those seats and oftentimes that means that you can participate either at a discount or sometimes they just want to make sure that they have a good and robust group of people present and so sometimes those training opportunities are free.

[Tricia]- Wonderful. Thank you. Maria.

[Maria]- All right. So for me it'll be... I was going to mention some that Jamin said, but taking that away. So there... on a personal level, you know, something that has helped me a lot has been a communications workshops, just learning how to talk to people. Because, you know, it comes a long way, the way that we speak to someone. Sometimes we may hear something that we do not agree on, and we have to stay calm and say, "well, they are coming from that place that they have those experiences and maybe I don't have those experiences." So it's good to have those. The community health worker, I know that there's one, it's a free of charge, I think it's like a 30-hour class and there's leadership programs. Why do I mention leadership programs? Because we have to be those leaders. We have to step up and, you know, just take those and make sure that we are listening to people and making sure that we're passing that along to our bosses or the higher-ups, you know, so they know, "hey, this is what's going on within the community, these are the problems, how can we fix them? Or where can we meet in the middle?"

[Tricia]- Wonderful. I like that you mentioned leadership, because I don't necessarily always think that it needs to be an identified diversity inclusion training, right? Like, there's so many things- communication is huge. Body language, the unspoken words, like how to make people feel welcome even when you may be saying something... And I know I learned a lot when I took several classes just because of body language, just the way I was sitting. I didn't realize it made me unapproachable. But again, now that, you know, you learn those things, it makes it... it's applicable across the board, right? Like those are the other things that folks tend to forget about the importance of that communication aspect and the importance of leadership roles and being able to speak up because usually you're advocating for someone who may not have their voice yet or have found their voice yet. So, great, great, great point out of it can be other... there's other trainings that will impact the inequity and health inequity and social justice within your workforce. What are some of the successful methods or tactics to advocate for and promote equity and social justice in the workplace? What have you guys found that works for you or has worked in your previous work? Maria, I'll jump... I'll start with you.

[Maria]- For me, honestly, it has been going out into the community. If anything, I have been lucky about now that we are kind of out of COVID is going out there and integrating myself within the community and knowing, you know, because before I will be completely honest, I was ignorant to what was going on within my community. You know, there's a huge homeless population problem that we have and yet we're not addressing those issues. We're just angry at the fact of like, we have homeless population, but we don't have any ideas or any plans on how to move forward. So for me it's go out there, talk to people, like actually go within that community and listen. Just making sure that you're having, you know, that listening even when you're like, well... because, you know, issues that I have encountered is, "oh, but if they just need a job" and it's like, "eh, listen." Now that I'm out, I understand it more- there's a huge mental health problem issue. Why aren't we addressing that? How can we help instead of, you know, "let's all get angry at each other, let's fight for this one." So I think that would be one of the things. And then... let me see. And just advocating. Advocating for everyone. Just advocate. Honestly. Even if you don't know that certain population or, you know, if they speak another language different than yours, just advocate. You know for me, is I have seen that it's just not the the kids in my community that we're having problems with; it's every single culture and race out there. So how... why can't I just... I cannot just pick and choose who I can help. I have to help all, and that's what I love about public health is we help all. So that's what I'm trying to, you know, push. Let's help everyone. Let's get together and make a plan on how can we do this better.

[Tricia]- Jamin, same question. What are some successful methods/tactics to advocate for and promote equity and social justice in the workplace that you have used?

[Jamin]- So first, I have to say that Maria's answers were so wonderful, so, thank you for sharing that. I agree that one of the things that's so important is getting out and listening. I think that it's not something... it's not hard, but we just find ourselves not doing it. And then I think the other part really is recognizing this model of shared leadership. Like there are people that I... that surround me in my orbit who are expert and leader in areas I will never be able to grasp and understand, and part of my job is to get out of the way and allow for them to lead and give them the opportunity to serve and be that expert. I think that's a really important part of it. And then I think as far as... I think when you you talk about advocating, you have to talk about sponsorship also. You have to talk about recognizing when people and voices are missing, are obviously absent from a room or from a conversation and being willing to sit in silence and offer and encourage and invite those other voices that are missing into the room. I think that's a really important part of advocating is offering space to the voice that needs to be there.

[Tricia]- Mm-hmm.

[Jamin]- And then the last thing is, it's been my experience in public health that there's usually not an absence of loud voices in a room, but it's oftentimes those quiet voices that get overlooked. And so it's our responsibility to provide an opportunity for those more quiet voices to be heard. And so I think that that's a message that I try and... I mean, I have a sticky note that sits on my desk reminding me to kind of sit back and be quiet and allow for the softer voices to stand up and speak out. And I think that that's a really important part of our job as leaders is to just facilitate and support the space for the softer voices in the room that have a really important message to share and oftentimes aren't given the opportunity to express that, so...

[Tricia]- Wonderful. You've kind of touched on some of the methods and tactics. What are some of the best practices that have been implemented or you've implemented in your organization to create a workplace as a brave space? Maybe not a safe space, but a brave space for all? Maria, I'll let you start with that one.

[Maria]- Jamin, if you're ready, you can go ahead.

[Jamin]- Sure. I, well first, I love that you mentioned a brave space versus a safe space. I think that's something that, you know, we're trying to be intentional about building. The reality is a safe space means people remain silent. A safe space means that topics that are really important don't get addressed because they're uncomfortable. So I think one of the biggest things is just highlighting the importance of discomfort. It's okay to talk about things that are painful and hurt because the communities we serve are hurting and they're in pain and they're suffering and when we want to create a safe place that makes people feel good, then sometimes we're abdicating our responsibility to address the things that are causing that harm and impacting, you know, the health outcomes of our community. So I think that one of the things that I and and my team have been intentional about is calling out the need for creating these brave spaces where the hard conversations happen, whether you want it to or not. We're going to talk about things that are uncomfortable. We're going to talk about the impacts of racism and the fact that racism is in fact a social determinant of health. We can't ignore it. We're going to talk about the impacts of Black and Hispanic maternal mortality. The fact that Black and brown birthing people are dying within our community and there's no reason for it. Absolutely no reason for it. And so I think that really, I feel like you gave me the answer to this question in how you framed it. The reality is, you know, if we are... as public health professionals and, you know, as champions of equity and racial and social justice, if we are willing to sit quietly in those brave and uncomfortable spaces, we can assure that the the needs of our community are at least being raised to the surface so that we can hear the true challenge. And so, I really think that that is really kind of the secret is being okay with the brave space and kind of disregarding that safe space.

[Tricia]- I like how you called it uncomfortable silence. Sometimes it's... 30 seconds can feel like an hour, right, when we're having these conversations? But that's so crucial for allowing those folks to find their voice and speak up and share in those situations and in various meetings or community collaborations that you're working on. So I love that. Maria.

[Maria]- I mean, I'll echo what you said. I just love that answer. You know, for me, it has been, I have been lucky enough where my position once it started was brand new. So I am taking my position, you know, I am taking those uncomfortable situations to people and when I have meetings I'm like, "what are you guys doing to invite me?" Because, you know, I come in here and I don't see anything in Spanish or in any other language that it's inviting me in. What are you doing to, you know, invite me to the table and say, "hey, you are welcome here." It's one of the things that, you know, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and it's a learning experience. You know, for years I have believed myself to be in a marginalized community, which I am. But now I'm trying to force that out. Like, "no, I'm no longer that. I am going to make sure that I end that cycle because now I have my son; what kind of future am I going to give him?" And with him comes everyone else, correct? So that's what I'm like, you know, if I sit down at a table, I'm like, "what are you doing to invite me over?" And I have been really, really lucky that, you know, with the organizations and even with my own department where I can go in and say, "hey, what are we doing? Because this is not working. Can, can we make sure that you are counting everyone else?" And I am grateful that it started, you know, in my head it started with my community. I want to make sure that my community is acknowledged. I want to make sure that they know that my community is here. Well everyone knows that we are here. How can we make sure that we are helping each other out to take the fact that we are different race, different color, because we're still human, we are the human race. How can we push that out of... we're here to help each other out so how can we move forward and make sure that we are just sharing that information with everyone where people can feel comfortable and come to me and ask me for help, you know, without saying, "oh, well she's not gonna help me because they have an agenda." You know? So, I do love that and I am trying to get used to the brave space 'cause this is like the first few times I have heard it and I love it. So...

[Tricia]- It's scary 'cause it's one of those that we can't... in the sense of, I don't think we ever want to identify a place as "unsafe," right? We want to have conversations. But I think when we say, you know, "you're in a safe space," there's an implication or it's implied that I'm not gonna be uncomfortable or I might not get upset and I should be... you know, everything should be happy-go-lucky. And that's... when we're having real conversations and we're really intentional on moving that pendulum those conversations are gonna be uncomfortable. Those conversations are going to be thought-provoking and... as they should be. But they also need to be intentional that the voices that may not have spoken when we allowed for a safe space speak up when we give them a brave space and I think that's something that is hard and it's uncomfortable, but I think we're getting there. We're moving step by step and I think it's very important for organizations and leadership and individuals. I don't always feel it needs to be someone in a leadership role to be having these conversations or to bring up the concept of a brave space. You know, walking into a leadership meeting and saying, "hey, we need to have a brave conversation about what's happening here in our culture and we are not welcoming." You know? And, "how how do we fix that?" And having some of those, again, brave conversations are gonna be crucial as we move forward. And again, getting away from the mindset that these conversations are quote on quote safe because they're not. And if you're too comfortable, then I would probably argue you might not be hitting the mark on moving that pendulum forward. And again, I don't think... I think none of us wants to be uncomfortable, but I think it's time, it's time for us to get out of that comfort zone and to be able to move into making a difference and looking at that 'cause otherwise we're not gonna have that pendulum shift. We're not going to see our culture changing and we're not going to hear from the folks that have been marginalized for years. So to have that opportunity is crucial. Another plug, again, as we are moving forward, please feel free to put any questions/comments that you would like to share, maybe things that you're doing within your own organization in either the chat or the Q&A. Oh it looks like we have one! "What can one do if your supervisor believes they are welcoming, providing a brave space, and promoting equity, but the staff don't think so and fear retaliation if they say anything?" Theresa, thank you for your question.

[Tricia]- Who would like to-

[Maria]- Unfortunately- Sorry.

[Tricia]- Go ahead.

[Maria]- Unfortunately you will have to be that voice, like you have to stand up. You know, I have been one to wait on who's going to stand up for me and you have to come to the point of, "no one is going to, I have to do it." And with you is everyone else. All of those communities. Like, "hey, you're not doing it correctly. What can we do to fix it?" Or just bring it over to "us." "How can we change this as a team to move forward?"

[Jamin]- Yeah, I agree. That's a hard question and really it comes down to a few things. You know, there's some personal decisions that have to be made in a situation like that and then the realization that, you know, sometimes it's hard to motivate change internally and you have to look at your opportunity to impact and influence change. And do you have that opportunity to influence change externally or within the larger organization that maybe doesn't exist within your team? And how does that... how does that change the way in which you approach each day? I think that's a really challenging question and I'm, sorry that that is possibly a reality. But I also agree with Maria that sometimes... sometimes we have to step into a space where we are okay with getting into good trouble. It's a hard thing to do because, you know, one- we are professionals and we want to be viewed as professionals and we do want to respect the position and the authority of people around us, but sometimes it does require us to step into that space of good trouble to stir, honestly sometimes to stir things up. And it's hard to say that, but it's a reality.

[Tricia]- And I would concur. I think that's... again, as we have this pendulum shift and as we continue to move that needle forward in creating a culture coming from the epi side of me, the epidemiology side of me, we always have, you know, we have our epi bell curve, right? We have our early adopters who are on board right away and grab the bull by the horns and run with it. And then we've got, you know, the rest of the group that kind of comes along with that big shape of the bell and then we've got our late adopters, the ones that aren't... are resistant, maybe not see the benefit of it, aren't open to change 'cause change is hard for them. And so being able to find out where you are, the pulse of where you're at in your organization. We've been having some of these brave conversations with organizations I've worked with and sometimes it's figuring out that that's not a culture I want to work in anymore. So I choose to leave. It also is management makes identify that this is an individual that doesn't fit our organization anymore as we begin to learn and grow. So having a brave space and if you're getting that pushback from leadership, I think one thing that's always good is to get the pulse on what's going on with your coworkers. Sometimes having those brave... making that brave space, start small and goes and grow it bigger into then having a conversation within upper management or supervisors as you feel more confident or get the pulse of what your organization, 'cause if the organization itself is ready to move forward, it's amazing what kind of leadership can come from staff. Just because you have a title doesn't necessarily equate leadership, right? And a leadership and momentum that can happen within an organization sometimes can happen from boots on the ground. Thank you for that question. I appreciate that. Another comment, "it's so incredibly important that each of us show up in a workplace healed and sourced. This out in Dr. Ginwright's "The Four Pivots: Remaining Justice, Remaining Ourselves." Any comments with that? Or excuse me, "re-imaging justice, re-imaging ourselves." My apologies. I think that's a great comment. All right, another question- "What partnerships should health departments consider when looking to advance health equity and social justice in the workplace?"

[Maria]- I'll go first.

[Tricia]- Yeah. Great.

[Maria]- Everyone. I think all of the organizations, everyone that you will work with in your county. 'Cause you cannot be the only one who's changing. You have to bring in those changes to everyone to see who is listening and willing to do so. I feel like that will be the only way that we can help each other out. And that's how we miss, you know, I feel like there's a lot of cracks with everything that we're doing. We haven't really come to a point where we're together working together or some of us are working together, but there's other resources out there and we just missed those opportunities to be able to reach out in a further, I guess, to make sure that we are not missing anyone. And I think that's where we're failing. We're failing at not being able to work together and coming together and just, you know, whatever resources I don't have, maybe this other organization may have it or department that they can help me out and then we can help in a wider range.

[Tricia]- Jamin, anything to add?

[Jamin]- Yeah, I don't think I have anything specific to add, but I do agree it's, you know, everyone.

[Tricia]- Well, and I would say, you know, I think for a long time public health feels like we have to do it all, right? And we can't, we can't do it all. Public health departments can't do everything, nor should we. We shouldn't want to. There are people out there that do things at a much better rate than we do, especially when we're talking about diverse populations: bringing them involved, making those connections. I think our world and our work life is changing and I think the importance of spending time... it's not just meetings anymore, right? Like it's not just sitting on a Zoom meeting, it's really going and having coffee with an individual and saying, "hey, I need your partnership. We haven't partnered in the past. I need you... I need to see what we can do to partner together." And it's really putting that olive branch out there and really starting to do that hard work of connecting. And again, not just inviting people to a meeting, a community meeting, 'cause that's not always gonna fix it. It's really having those one-on-ones, those coffees, outside of both organizations in a "safe," brave space. And having those conversations and bringing those folks to the table because just sending a Zoom meeting invite or a community meeting invite doesn't necessarily initiate that you are taking the steps to actually engage your community partners. I think that's crucial as we move forward. And I think after COVID, we've gotten comfortable in our offices or in our home offices and not going out and meeting face-to-face. And I think we have to get past that. We need to move into that direction and this is the time to do it because things are changing and we want them to change. We've learned so much and so many things came up through that process or through COVID. It's made it important and crucial for us to communicate with our partners.

[Jamin]- And if I could just add, the other thing is we've become really good at trying to create our own space, trying to create our own table to invite people to when the reality is our community partners have been... they've been doing the hard work for a really long time. People in our communities are already engaged, you know, community organizations already are engaged, are building connections, and sometimes our job is to just show up, to show up with the spaces that already exist, not to think we have to create our own space. And then it really does speak to that idea of shared leadership, this idea that as a local health department, like, there are areas where we might not be best positioned to lead. Our role might be to support or to show up and to recognize the leadership that already exists in that space. And I think that that's something that's hard for us because, you know, it's really easy for us to see ourselves in everything. We can connect the dots and draw a line that leads back to us in almost everything we see. And sometimes we need to realize that the hard work is already happening. It's happening well. The people who should be leading are leading. And our job is to sometimes be aware and be present and be a good friend and show up and support And that doesn't mean we have to take it over, That doesn't mean we have to build something new or create our own space and invite people to it because the work is already being done. And I think that's one of the big takeaways that I have kind of leaned on over the past... especially as we've begun to emerge from COVID and into this COVID recovery world, realizing that a lot of the work that we had traditionally done, we had to push onto the back burner to respond to this crisis. The work still happened, people were still doing it. People were still engaged in those spaces that we were not... you know, that we kind of vacated. And that doesn't mean we need to rebuild from where we were. It need means we need to recognize where the work continued and just be present. So...

[Tricia]- Agreed. Agreed. We have a question that came in the Q&A. I'll read it so the everyone can hear- "I have public facing documents I want to get translated. With so many unique languages in Iowa, I am not sure how to proceed. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible when our current resources to translate into all languages. How do we find the balance? One idea was to translate into the top three languages other than English and then provide a space where people can request additional translations if needed. What are your thoughts and recommendations?

[Jamin]- If it's okay, I'll jump in first.

[Tricia]- Yes, go for it. I'm sorry. Yes.

[Jamin]- So, we face that same challenge. So the, you know, the Omaha metro area has over 115 languages represented, and it's sadly not always realistic for us to be able to translate everything into those 115 languages. In an ideal world, we would be able to do that with everything, but it's not necessarily realistic. So what we have done is we have been intentional about working to translate into the top three languages, the languages most representative. And we do look at the geographic regions and parts of our community in which the messaging is being targeted to, and make sure that those languages are represented and then we have worked with some community organizations to be able to expand the ability to produce those public facing documents and additional languages upon requests. And it's not ideal, it's not the best option, but it's an option that at least allows for us to then be able to get the 15 most prevalent languages within our community translated relatively quickly once we identify a need for those documents. So I think that, like I said, I think that it's definitely a work in progress. I think we can do better and I hope that we can find better solutions and ways to be able to make sure that the information that is so vital to the communities we serve is provided to them in their preferred language without even having to ask for it. But until we can find that really perfect solution, I think we have to continue to be willing to take steps towards that and find alternatives that meet needs as they arise. So that's what we have, that's what we have done.

[Tricia]- Just want to point out if folks don't have their chat open, Jodie provided some good information. "Remember, 'findhelp,' formerly 'Aunt Bertha,' can translate resources into other languages if your program is in there." So again, if you are an organization that uses "findhelp" or, that was formally known as "Aunt Bertha," those are some resources in there that can translate information for you.

[Maria]- So for me to answer that question-

[Tricia]- Yes.

[Maria]- I feel like here is where, you know, partnerships are vital. Like for me, I will say, you know, that I was able to connect with Tyson. I know that they have a whole lot of different languages, like most of what they need is Karen, Pashto, Dari. There's one that is escaping me and I do apologize, but, you know, every single time that there's something important, I always send it over and I'm like, "hey, I do not have this in those languages, but if there is anyone that is able to help just so we can share that information." It is a work in progress. You know, I have offered myself to all of our partners just, I mention it, "hey, if you need help with Spanish, I can help you. You know, if there's anything as simple as one page or two, I can go ahead and help you with that so you are able to reach that community." And you are right, it's hard to get those other communities, but I think that we're not putting ourselves out there either like constantly trying to reach out. I think we are ignoring that. Like that's what's stopping us, then that's what we're doing wrong because we should be able to go and ask like, "hey..." or I don't know, try to do something with the bureau to see what languages we do have available within our state or our county. "Okay, what languages are most used in here? Like, who can we help to start with and then move forward from there?"

[Tricia]- Awesome. All right. My last question for you guys- what available tools or resources do you recommend to public health and other health professionals to promote equity and social justice in their workplace? I'll give you a second to ponder that.

[Maria]- I have a list.

[Tricia]- Go for it, Maria.

[Maria]- Okay. Well there's several things. There's a health equity toolkit, there's a national collaborative for health equity, and I do apologize, English is my second language, so please stop me if you don't understand anything. Health equity assessment toolkit, there is a health equity and social justice learning modules, equity and social justice in the public health practice, the Office of Minority Health Resource Center, they have a lot of information there. And also Roots of Health Inequity by NACCHO. That's one of the things that our department has been using a lot. And also we should be that resource, you know, having our department know what's going on and just going out there and advocate for people. We should be the biggest, you know, our biggest cheerleader moving forward, especially when we're helping so many communities. Let's not just stop now, you know, we should help each other out. Like, let's stop fighting each other and let's just come to the mutual ground of we all need help.

[Tricia]- Jamin, do you have anything else to add?

[Jamin]- I think her list was pretty robust. I appreciate it. I think one other tool that we have found to be really helpful comes out of Seattle King County and they have developed... I apologize, it's escaping me now... but they've developed a health equity and social justice like evaluation and toolkit that is really nice and it's pretty user friendly and it's also a free resource. And so I found that to be really helpful. And then the other thing that has been helpful, that's not directly a health equity or social justice tool, but that I found to be a really, really effective way of being able to start to scaffold and model a conversation internally is having our entire staff go through the strengths finder, like strengths assessment because I think it allows for us to then talk about the people around us from a strengths-based perspective, all of the skills and assets that they bring to the table and we can translate that very easily into the strengths that exist already within our community to diffuse some of those negative stereotypes that have formed. And so I've found that to be also really helpful in starting to begin having these conversations.

[Tricia]- Wonderful. Well, thank you both for taking time today, sharing your expertise, sharing your experiences with us. I've thoroughly enjoyed learning more about what each of you do in your positions. So take care. Have a wonderful day. Thanks everyone.

[Jamin]- Thank you so much!

[Tricia]- Yes!

[Maria]- Thank you.