Alameda County Public Health Department 's pedagogy for social justice

In 2006, Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD) launched a series of strategic planning sessions, social justice dialogues, retreats on addressing institutional racism and trainings to build essential public health knowledge. Combining Freirian popular education pedagogy with Technology of Participation approaches, we created learning activities that foster deep understanding of social determinants of health and build commitment to eliminate health inequities in our diverse population.

Our participatory strategic planning process aims to create a department-wide strategic plan to eliminate health inequities based on the principles of social justice. We have conducted several visioning and organizational analysis sessions around health inequities with ACPHD staff and community partners. With ACPHD “Leadership Fellows,” we have conducted in-depth social justice dialogues on institutional racism, gender exploitation and discrimination, and class exploitation.

With division directors and program managers, we have held one-day retreats to address institutional racism utilizing California Newsreel's Race: The Power of an Illusion documentaries. The videos serve to trigger dialogue, reflection and action planning about undoing racism within the health department and in the community. Our Community Assessment, Planning, Evaluation, and Education (CAPE) Unit has been holding monthly dialogues on institutional racism that have raised consciousness about institutional racism. We also aim to improve our epidemiological efforts and community capacity building practices, and develop stronger approaches to empower communities. Moreover, PH 101 is a five-module training series that includes presentations and dialogues on cultural competency and cultural humility; social determinants of health and health inequities; undoing racism; and community capacity building.