Learning for Equity

The Social Change Institute at Community Health Councils has been asked by several organizations to create a Capacity Building Workshop for their members. We started with a Nonprofit Success Series at Kravis Lab for Social Impact. We had two semesters, and collectively 50 organizations and groups were represented. We created and deployed a second workshop at Holman United Methodist Church in partnership with First 5 LA Foundation and Pacific Oaks College. Approximately 50 individuals attended over 4 modules. We are in the process of developing workshops for the Healthy Kids Zone program with LA Care Health Plan as the funder, another for Youth of Color Activists across California with The California Endowment as the funder and an alumni group from the First 5 LA Best Start resident leaders. If you would like to connect with us to collaborate on a future Learning for Equity Capacity Building Workshop, please contact MBurton@risingcommunities.org.

CHC’s Social Change Institute in partnership with Pacific Oaks College designed and delivered curriculum for a series of workshops to support capacity building for the Best Start Community Partnerships. There are four modules and a total of twelve workshops, that address the core competencies needed to position the Best Start Community Partnerships for future success. All participants will earn a certificate from Pacific Oaks College for every module completed. Each workshop will be a daylong class with pre-requisite readings, journaling and cumulative assignments that will evidence participants understanding and application of the curriculum.

Our mission at Community Health Councils is to collectively build equitable systems. We do this by focusing on the individual in the system and at the core of our Capacity Building Workshops are four driving principles: Confidence Increase; Knowledge Increase; Behavior Change; Actionable Outcome. Secondarily, we are looking at how the Workshops help leaders feel confident by reaffirming the knowledge they already have, thereby allowing them to maximize skills like public speaking. Leaders have relayed that they valued learning about racial trauma, including how it is transmitted generationally. Learning about racial trauma helped leaders understand some of the racial tension experienced in their communities and gain insight into their own racial experience. Leaders mentioned that learning about racial trauma allowed them to be more open and understanding about each other’s experience in the community. Also, leaders communicated that they wanted to learn more about conflict resolution.

In addition to the academic partnerships, the curriculum and the impact metrics for the Workshops, we are also developing source and support materials that are extended outside of the classroom. These “Fishbowls” working off Episode One of the Equity Lookbook (Source Material) aim to nurture the work that we do in the classroom.