This document summarizes an event about promoting structural racism and public health. It provides details on the event such as the date, time, accessibility options, speakers, and goals. It also summarizes key findings from focus groups and surveys on messaging around public health, policy influencers, and recommendations for addressing structural racism and health inequities.

1. Structural Racism and Public Health:
How to Talk to Policymakers and
Community Members
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28
3:00-4:30pm ET / 12:00-1:30pm PT
This event will be recorded. The recording and slides will be available on
publichealthcollaborative.org later this week.
All attendees are automatically muted upon entry.

2. Closed Captioning and ASL
Interpretation
Live closed captioning is being provided by AI Media. ASL
interpretation is being provided by Keystone Interpreting
Solutions. If you’d like to use closed captions or ASL
interpretation, hover over the “More” button or the
“Interpretation” button on the bottom of your Zoom screen.

3. Meet Today’s Experts
Tom Martin
Communications Director
CityHealth
Dr. Elizabeth Green
Communications Director
Big Cities Health Coalition
Dr. Judy Monroe
President and CEO
CDC Foundation
Allyn Brooks-LaSure
Vice President,
Communications
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation
Dr. Raynard
Washington
Public Health Director
Mecklenburg County
Public Health

4. Promoting Health Equity
in Big Cities
Key findings from focus groups, online discussion boards,
and an online survey of policy influencers living in large cities
Find further details about this study on BCHC’s website.

5. Give public health leaders
tested language to help
persuade engaged voters
and policymakers that
governmental public health
is an important and trusted
partner in building health
equitably in your communities.
Goal

6. Methodology
• Two focus groups with white
centrist and Black residents living
in Philadelphia, March 2023
• Two online discussion
boards with white center-right
and Black and Hispanic
residents living in BCHC’s 35
member cities, March 2023
• Online survey of 1,006
“policy influencers” (news-
attentive, civically engaged
voters) in BCHC’s 35
member cities, May 2023
• Includes oversamples of Black
and Hispanic policy influencers
Seattle, WA
Houston, TX
Dallas, TX
El Paso, TX
Fort Worth, TX
Austin, TX
San Antonio, TX
Memphis, TN
Baltimore, MD
Washington, DC
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Boston, MA
Phoenix, AZ
Tucson, AZ
Denver, CO
Long Beach, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Oakland, CA
San Jose, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Portland, OR
Kansas City, KS
Oklahoma City, OK
Chicago, IL
Indianapolis, IN
Detroit, MI
Minneapolis, MN
Milwaukee, WI
Charlotte, NC
Cleveland, OH
Columbus, OH
Louisville, KY

7. Profile of Urban Policy Influencers
Man
48%
Non-binary 1%
Woman
51%
Gender Age
26%
23%
30%
21%
18 to 34
35 to 49
50 to 64
65/older
Education
Race
Income Parents
17%
34%
31%
18%
51%
20%
20%
8%
White
Black
Hispanic
AAPI
20%
15%
35%
30%
Less than $30K
$30K-49K
$50K-99K
$100K+
High school grad/less
Some college
4-year college grad
Postgrad degree
have children under age 18
living at home
33%

8. Urban Policy Influencers’ Engagement with News, Civic Issues
Read/Listen to News Involvement in Issues
Ideology
Party ID
Very involved
22%
Somewhat
involved
78%
65%
35%
Six or seven days a week
Four or five days a week
60%
24%
16%
Democrat Republican Independent
45%
22%
33%
Liberal Conservative Moderate

9. Findings & Messaging
Recommendations

10. Reducing crime and addressing homelessness are the
largest priorities for policy influencers. Traditional public
health investments are a second-tier concern.
This issue should be a TOP PRIORITY for the city I live in to
address.

11. In their own words, homelessness, substance use
disorder, and mental health are the most important
health-related issues to address.
What are the most important health-related issues to address and improve in your city? (Open-ended)

12. Health priorities vary somewhat by region.
What are the most important health-related issues to address and improve in your city? (Open-ended)
National % CA % Rest of W % NE % Midwest % TX % Rest of S %
Homelessness 18 33 24 18 7 16 13
Substance use disorder 18 15 28 26 11 8 21
Mental health 15 13 12 20 16 14 12
Access to healthcare 13 12 10 12 14 17 9
Obesity 10 4 4 5 14 18 18
COVID-19 9 12 8 11 8 7 12
Diabetes 9 8 3 10 8 17 6
Affordability of healthcare 9 8 7 8 8 12 12
Air quality 9 11 12 8 7 8 6
Crime/gun violence 7 3 6 12 9 2 10
Respiratory issues/diseases 6 7 9 4 6 4 5
Highest value Higher than national
average

13. A few specific social determinants of health stand
out to policy influencers as especially important.
Livable
wage
Safe,
affordable
housing
Healthy
food
Learn more about BCHC’s Urban Health Agenda.

14. 36%
42%
Shifting to an “empowerment” framing can increase their
perception that city government has responsibility in the
health realm.
The city government should have A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY to...
Help residents to be healthy* Make sure residents have
opportunities to be healthy*
* Each asked of half the respondents.
All policy influencers
Liberal Democrats
Non-liberal Democrats
Independent
s
Republicans
White residents
Black residents
Hispanic residents
Men
Women
NYC/LA/CHI/PHL
City Pop. 800K-1M
City Pop. 500K-800K
City Pop. <500K
42%
33%
28%
34%
38%
41%
39%
34%
37%
38%
36%
34%
51%
37%
39%44%
30%
36%
53%
47%
36%
47%
42%
53%
32%
41%

15. Qualitative Findings
White influencers thought
income-based health
disparities were a greater
priority than racism-based
health disparities.
Black and Hispanic
influencers saw these as
interrelated.
I think catering to a specific group of
people, other than low-income persons as
a whole, creates divisiveness and bias.
—White Woman, Columbus, Independent
I think the bigger topic would be to bring it
to everyone instead of concentrating on
one group over another. Being able to
make sure that everyone gets their share
is better, in the long run, than trying to
catch people up while focusing on others.
—Boston, Hispanic Man, Independent

16. But when we framed racial health inequities through an
empowerment message – people created the issue, people
can fix it – policy influencers showed more support.
Racial health inequities are a result of social and
economic systems that have been made by people, and
therefore can be changed by people as well. Addressing
racial health inequities will require examining and
addressing the root causes of these disparities, including
unequal access to health care and distribution of
resources. But by acknowledging that these inequities are
manmade and fixable, we can begin to take the
necessary steps to create a more fair and just society.
57%
chose this as
the best case
for addressing
racial health
inequities (top
vote getter)

17. Acknowledgments
Funding
Research &
messaging support

18. Speaker
Dr. Judy Monroe
President and CEO
CDC Foundation

19. Public Health: Changing the Narrative—
Research-Based Messaging Guide

22. State investment in local public health
Services delivered at the county level
Evidence-based programs focused on
prevention
Counties decide whether to opt in
Health First Indiana

23. www.cdcfoundation.org
www.cdcfoundation.org

24. Speaker
Allyn Brooks-LaSure
Vice President,
Communications
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation

25. Leading with values
• Values work better than examples, stories, or facts.
• Don’t lead with facts or statistics. In the survey, voters
reacted with low intensity to statements that lead with
statistics or facts.
• Stories that show the condition and impact of structural
racism—along with a solution—are convincing. Just don’t
lead or dominate with them.

26. Why Values?
• Anchoring messaging in values and emotion versus facts and
statistics is vital.
• People make decisions based on their values, then look for
facts to reinforce their values—especially in conversations
about issues linked to personal identity.
• Survey respondents rated values-based messages more
favorably than problem-based messages.

27. • Problem-Based Examples:
• In America, nearly 11 million children are poor.
• Black men have a higher incidence and mortality rate of
prostate cancer
• Values-Based Example:
• We all have dreams for ourselves and our families.
• But too many of our children…
• But too many of our fathers/husbands…
Problems vs. Values

28. Building support for race and equity policies in health is critical, but how do we effectively
translate research into action? Building on RWJF’s “Structural racism and health”
messaging research, We Make The Future’s two-part workshop will equip you with the
tools you need to implement race-forward health messaging to build support for healthy
equity approaches.
During the workshops, we will:
1. Dig deeper into implementation strategies;
2. Brainstorm ways you can effectively use a race and class explicit message in your
day-to-day work and ongoing public health campaigns;
3. Practice writing messages that lead with values, describe the effects of structural
racism on health, and help your audience think about this issue at a structural—not
just an individual—level.
Ready to turn research into action and strengthen your messaging tactics?
Please fill out this form to RSVP: bit.ly/wmtf-workshop
Structural racism and health implementation workshop

30. Speaker
Dr. Raynard
Washington
Public Health Director
Mecklenburg County
Public Health

31. Thank You
More Resources
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