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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Sheryl D. Taylor, MPH¹, Roxanne Reddington Wilde, PhD², Peter R. Lee, MPH³, Brunilda Torres, MSW⁴, Samuel Louis, MPH⁴, Peter Droese⁵, and Durrell J. Fox⁶. (1) Symphony Tailored Health Solutions And MDPH, 1514 Silver St, Jacksonville, FL 32206, (2) Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., 178 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111, 617-348-6214, rewilde@bostonabcd.org, (3) Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Communities/The Medical Foundation, 622 Washington Street 2nd Floor, Dorchester, MA 02124-3548, (4) Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, (5) Health Policy Library, MassHealth (Office of Medicaid), 600 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, (6) New England HIV Education Consortium, 23 Miner Street, Floor G, Boston, MA 02215-3318

CriticalMASS is a statewide coalition which focuses on eliminating race and ethnic health disparities; a public-private partnership of groups that extends beyond health care delivery systems to include grassroots action at the local, regional and state levels. CriticalMASS initiates collective action to make change in legislation and policy at all levels from community action for local community health improvement to corrective action in clinical practice. In the short life of the Coalition, the reach and impact has been significant. The objectives of the coalition are directed at creating systemic change at multiple levels: at the local level, CriticalMASS has developed, implemented and disseminated a toolkit (or community action guide) to help individuals and communities identify and address health disparities in their own community; at the regional levels CriticalMASS has a network which connects people and communities for strategizing, sharing and exchanging ideas and best practices; and at the state level CriticalMASS was behind the establishment of a Special Legislative (House and Senate) Commission on Health Disparities. Since its inception, CriticalMASS engaged the voices of community health workers (CHWs) through its partnership with Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers in the planning, presentation, and evaluation of its work. CriticalMASS created roles for CHWs in the implementation and dissemination of its community action guide, network development, and advocacy efforts.

Learning Objectives: