The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently held a virtual ceremony to honor the winners of the 2020 Health Equity Award, and we encourage you to learn more about the celebrated awardees’ work! The RWJF Health Equity Award recognizes individuals who are making a difference to address health equity in their community through a systems change approach. The League has been honored to steward the NCL-RWJF awardee process and last year selected Dr. Tsu-Yin Wu for her work to transform healthcare for Asian and Asian Americans in the U.S. and globally. Congratulations to all the awardees for their incredible work as champions for better health and livelihoods in their communities.
Watch the 2020 RWJF Award for Health Equity Celebration
Below is a brief overview, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s announcement, of each winners’ work. Learn more about last year’s awardees here
Meet the 2020 Winners!
Tsu-Yin Wu, Director, Eastern Michigan University School of Nursing PhD Program and Center for Health Disparities Innovations and Studies
Winner selected by the National Civic League
Over the course of a 20-year career, Wu, Professor and Director, Eastern Michigan University School of Nursing PhD Program & Center for Health Disparities Innovations and Studies, has worked to document and remediate health care disparities, focusing on access to quality care, health care education, and community engagement. Her research work, its implementation through organizations such as the Healthy Asian Americans Project (HAAP), and her clinical advocacy in creating interdisciplinary, culturally competent interventions have reduced disparities in the treatment of various cancers, chronic diseases, mental health issues, and lead poisoning among underserved Asian American communities in Michigan. In building up community health resources, leadership, and education, Wu’s work has contributed to advancing health equity in these communities and in the United States.
Rashaan Gilmore, Founder and President,BlaqOut
Winner selected by AIDS United
BlaqOut, in Kansas City, Mo., envisions “a community where Black queer and trans people are connected and supported, have access to safe spaces and sufficient resources to help them thrive.” BlaqOut conducted the Vision 2020 Study, a community health needs assessment, gathering data on health conditions and Social Determinants of Health. Rashaan then created a model of care tailored to Black LGBTQ people, combining health care (including mental health), PrEP, and reentry to care. Rashaan is dedicated to organizational sustainability and community autonomy. “We got this. We are the change agents. We know what it’s going to take.”
Susy Molano, Executive Director, Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association
Winner selected the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health
In her work at the Portland Shriners Hospitals for Children, Molano came to understand how vulnerable populations suffer if they are not able to communicate properly. The Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association (OHCIA) is working with the state legislature to create an interpreting licensing board, ensuring that all health care interpreters, interpreter agencies, and health care providers are held to statutory standards and receive the support they need. OHCIA offers trainings in which experienced interpreters teach trainees from a variety of language groups in Oregon, so that students can obtain and keep state accreditation. This program has delivered long-term value for patients, interpreters, the profession, and the community.
Ilima Ho-Lastimosa and Jane Chung-Do
Winners selected by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health
Ilima Ho-Lastimosa—Community Coordinator, Waimānalo Learning Center, Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo; and Jane Chung-Do—Associate Professor, Office of Public Health Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Founded in 2017 by Ho-Lastimosa, a community leader and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, and Chung-Do, a Public Health professor and researcher, the Waimānalo Pono Research Hui (WPRH) is a partnership composed of over 50 academic researchers and community members working with the Native Hawaiian community of Waimānalo, on the island of O’ahu. By centering the voices and knowledge of the community, WPRH promotes local empowerment and self-determination. Ho-Lastimosa and Chung-DIlima embrace the Native Hawaiian view of health and wellness and work to achieve health equity through projects advancing culturally based education, food, and nutrition, and health of the land and ocean.
Alex Sanchez, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Homies Unidos, Inc.
Winner selected by Hispanics in Philanthropy
An expert on violence prevention, gang culture, and youth criminalization, Alex Sanchez advocates for comprehensive intervention strategies, immigration reform, criminal justice reform, and Black-Brown unity. He promotes racial tolerance and cultural understanding in the service of violence prevention. Homies Unidos teaches life skills to at-risk Central American youth; distributes food; organizes cultural events; and engages in community peacebuilding and organizing, including voter registration. In developing inter-community trust while working to meet the basic needs of young people and their families, Alex is helping to build a new model of community strength and health equity.
Linda Coleman, Vice President of Resident Services, Human Good
Winner selected by LeadingAge
HumanGood is one of the largest nonprofit senior living providers in the country. Coleman partnered with San Francisco State University to bring nursing students to HumanGood affordable housing communities to conduct biometric screenings. She forged other partnerships with health insurers to reserve a number of apartments for older adults who are dual-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid; and to provide Health Care Navigators to HumanGood communities to educate residents about healthy lifestyles, support compliance with care plans, and help residents with medical appointments. These arrangements advanced health equity, enhanced wellness, and supported residents’ independence.
Maurice Lee, Founder and President, Arizona Safety Net
Winner selected by the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics
Arizona Safety Net, founded by Lee in 2016, is a network of more than 40 primary care clinics that work to better serve Arizona’s uninsured through collaboration, quality improvement, and better access to care. Lee created a referral system that gives primary care clinics that refer the uninsured access to over 20 specialty services through a simple referral form. He recruited physicians in medical specialties that were under-resourced for the uninsured. In gaining broader access to affordable, quality health care for the uninsured, his work represents systems change in the service of health equity.
Carol Zernial and Daryl D. Quarles
Winners selected by the National Recreation and Park Association
In a public/private partnership brokered by Zernial, an acclaimed gerontologist and Executive Director of the WellMed Charitable Foundation (WCF), and Quarles, the Senior Program Division Service Area Manager at the Dallas Park and Recreation Department (DPRD), WellMed spent $2.1 million developing WellMed Charitable Foundation Senior Activity Center, in the repurposed Red Bird Mall. DPRD provides staff and programming at a cost of $250,000 per year and $150,000 in annual scholarships to subsidize seniors’ memberships, matching an annual grant from WCF. There is an adjacent WellMed for-profit primary care clinic. The clinic and the senior center together provide a holistic approach to seniors’ physical, social, and mental health.
Te Jay McGrath, TAY Program Coordinator, City of Pasadena
Winner selected by Youth MOVE National
As the Transitional Age Youth (TAY) Program Coordinator for the City of Pasadena, McGrath works to connect young people experiencing homelessness to community support, including service providers and youth peer support. His strategies include outreach through events for Pride Week and National Coming Out Day, and providing resources like mobile HIV testing, flu shots, groceries, and access to a mobile shower. The program has a team of ten working with homeless teenagers, bringing them hygiene kits and information on COVID-19, and serving food every day from Pasadena restaurants. This approach has helped to keep restaurants in business and supported the local economy.