About

Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare exist and because they are associated with worse outcomes in many cases, are unacceptable. Institutional racism refers to policies and practices within and across healthcare institutions that, intentionally or not, produce outcomes that chronically favor, or put a racial group at a disadvantage (Aspen).

On November 18th, 2015, representatives from a number of NYC institutions and organizations were able to sit together and make a commitment to dismantle institutional racism within the NYC health system.  Over the course of the past several months, we continued to build our coalition and create actionable goals. It is clear that individuals are ready to remove themselves from isolated silos and unite their voices and hearts to combat racism. We invite you to join us on March 12th, 2016 for an action-oriented forum, “Dismantling Racism in the NYC Health System: The Time is Now.”

Goal:  To equip health professionals (in all sectors: community health activists/CBO, social work, public health, medicine, health policy, academic medicine) with the tools to address racism and eliminate inequities in the health system in NYC.

  • Evaluate potential sources of racial and ethnic disparities in the health system, including the role of bias, discrimination, and stereotyping at the individual (provider and patient), institutional, and health system levels (in line with IOM report on Unequal Treatment); and,
  • Provide recommendations regarding interventions to eliminate health disparities.

We are assembling a steering committee and creating working groups. This way, we can capitalize on the expertise of those in our coalition working in these areas, help connect nodes, have smaller teams with actionable goals and commit to tackling a number of important issues at the same time. Creating a sustainable coalition of doers with a shared goal and united voice is our top priority. The forum is to set the stage and bring light to key areas within the realm of racism.

The working groups are:

  •    Education & Curriculum Development
  •    Health Policy & Legislation
  •    Research
  •    Access to Care
  •    Representation in the Health Field
  •    Intersectionality
  •    Community Engagement & Advocacy

Speakers from each of these areas will share work that they are doing, and you will have the opportunity to join our working groups.