Despite decades of government and community efforts to improve health equity in Latinx communities, vast disparities remain. For example, Latinxs are the group least likely to be insured or to report having a doctor in California. And, although there has been significant progress, Latinas remain the group with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the state, reflecting both challenges in seeking care and the impact of persistent poverty and more limited educational opportunities, particularly in rural areas.

Health equity advocates in California have identified several ways that funders can work with and in communities to address these challenges. These are just a few (see our report for a full rundown):

  • Truly listen to communities to better understand their needs and how they themselves want to address them.
  • Monitor who controls and distributes funding and sets priorities to ensure that organizations being funded bring in community members, local voices, and stakeholders as active collaborators.
  • Foster collaboration by promoting efforts that bring different stakeholders together and by taking steps to ensure that small grassroots organizations have a voice and opportunities to receive funding.
  • Support organizations that are putting forth an inclusive narrative for health equity that understands how the social determinants of health operate within families and communities and that are focusing on the root causes of health inequities, such as structural racism and economic injustice.
  • Support organizations that are committed to and have the capacity to address healing and trauma in their communities.
  • Provide funding for existing services through general operating grants in order to facilitate sustainability. Commit to long-term investments, because health equity efforts span long periods of time and require immense commitment and consistency to achieve lasting results.

Read the full article about Latinx health equity by Ana Marie Argilagos at Grantmakers In Health.