Role of philanthropy

America spends $1.24 trillion on health disparities of persons of color. If we can improve the health of communities of color, we can contribute the health of our nation. Right now, 1 out of 2 Californians is a person of color. By the year 2040, 2 out of 3 Californians, and 1 out of 2 Americans, will be a person of color. Investing in California's health equity is a critical imperative, for how California goes, could go the nation.

A decade ago, in 2003, the American Public Health Association, the California Health and Human Services Agency, and a statewide coalition of leaders from the public and private arenas of policy, health care, public health, and philanthropy, formed a partnership – the California Campaign to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health - to better understand the roots and pathways to health inequities; to determine what can be done, and to set a process in motion to promote health equity in California. At this session, I'd like to talk about California we saw in 2003, compared to California we see in 2012, and what national and local philanthropy – in partnership with public health, academia, the health care sector, and the social sector - can do to leverage resources and create a desired future, for California and the nation. I will also discuss the importance of the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2012.