Achieving health equity through “undoing racism”: The case of the Florida health equity commission

Issues: In 2009, the Florida Department of Health proposed budgetary cuts to the Closing the Gap in Infant Mortality Program and programmatic changes to the Office of Minority Health that would have threatened state and local efforts to achieve health equity. Description: Representatives from the Black Infant Health Practice Initiative, a statewide Initiative addressing infant mortality disparity, and other statewide organizations addressing health disparities, coalesced to voice strong opposition to these actions. Once the proposed actions were rejected, the group decided to become more formalized and extend its reach to other community and faith organizations. Thus, the Florida Health Equity Commission (FHEC) was created to galvanize those interested in health equity, with a special emphasis on addressing the impact of racism on Floridians' health. Primary strategies include conducting Undoing Racism Community Organizing Workshops (URWs) and encouraging advocacy and education to build support for health equity and social justice in each FHEC Community. Lessons Learned: The URWs exposed ignorance and misunderstanding regarding the structures and systems that perpetuate the racism underlying health disparities and social inequality and clarified the need for community strategies to promote greater understanding of the historical context of racism in the United States and how and why it is maintained. Recommendations: FHEC must create strategies to facilitate productive public discussion on issues relating to race, making more effective use of advocacy, community organizing, media, and research to develop policy, foster leadership, and develop communications tools to build a multi-racial, multi-ethnic movement for health equity and social justice.