Civic Engagement and Civic Infrastructure to Advance Health Equity Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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3 Civic Infrastructure
3 Civic Infrastructure
Pages 21-36
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From page 21... ...
Isabel Mendoza, a former youth commissioner and former Gonzales Youth Council member, was a sophomore at Santa Clara University and an intern for the city of Gonzales California Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships at the time of the workshop. Mendoza was studying psychology with the hope of becoming a clinical psychologist for children and adolescents or pursuing a career in the community connecting civic infrastructure with concerns about health equity.
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(Fung) • There are four important ways schools strengthen student's civic engagement: curriculum, pedagogy, extracurricular activities, and school culture.
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As of 2020, GYC youth commissioners are no longer included as an official representative for the school board; however, they still have a reoccurring agenda item, which allows them to present all the projects and events conducted throughout the year to help better understand the youth of Gonzales. In the discussion Levinson asked about the substance of what the GYC has achieved, especially with the mental health project launched during the pandemic.
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This project is a good example of how civic infrastructure is connected with public health and health equity, Levinson said. The GYC made political changes through civic engagement and tripled the number of social workers in the school district.
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CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE PANEL Jocelyn Bissonnette, the special projects director of the Funders' Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) , introduced the civic infrastructure panel by describing civic engagement as "a collection of non-partisan ideas, activities, and field building that could help shift attitudes, behaviors, public policy, and politics with the objective to try to balance power on behalf of people in communities who are often marginalized from decisions and resources that affect them." To further set the stage for this session, Bissonnette offered three basic assumptions: (1)
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The Healthy Democracy, Healthy People initiative is a nonpartisan coalition of 10 national public health organizations that are working to advance health equity by ensuring that access to the ballot is available for everyone (Healthy Democracy Healthy People, n.d.)
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Fair Count has a deep commitment to equity -- equity in power, resources, and information. Abrams McLean, a scientist by training, said "we could not have a healthy country if we do not have a healthy democracy." Fair Count believes that the communities that are being undercounted in the Census, underrepresented at the polls, and that lose their voting power through redistricting processes are the same communities being overlooked and under-resourced throughout the pandemic and even further back before the pandemic in terms of overall health disparities.
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NAVAEP advocates for social, economic, and environmental justice based on principles of civic engagement and building a Native American electorate (NAVA Education Project, n.d.)
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Chavez described efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve the civic infrastructure among these communities, especially efforts aimed at increasing voter participation. The pandemic caused many communities to shut down completely, which highly affected civic engagement.
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There are four important ways in which schools help strengthen student civic knowledge, Levinson said. One way is through teaching youth directly about formal government, civic society, nonprofits, levers of power, and history in addition to teaching from all angles and historical dimensions, which are equally important for thinking about students civic learning, she said.
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Abrams McLean began her remarks by speaking about how non-extractive organizing is effective and sustainable. For the past 2 years, the organizers at Fair Count have lived in the same communities they work in, which allows them the opportunity to build and maintain relationships that also help build trust in communities.
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The work of youth organizers may cause a shift back to a healthy democracy within schools. Youth organizations and youth leaders have demonstrated sizeable impact for Dreamers, the March for Our Lives, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Challenges were endured, such as receiving census packets late and shortened time frames due to COVID. Free communal meals, gift cards, and other efforts, promoted through a robust social media platform, were executed to gather data, which incentivized people to get counted.
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However, 21 different states have restricted student engagement in civic action and in civic skills development, which includes learning about race and racism in this country. Such barriers constitute a threat to civic infrastructure, Levinson said, and also constrain student learning about identity and collaborating in solidarity with others to make changes, as Chavez and Abrams McLean also commented.
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Bissonnette offered some insights on the most effective arguments that organizers can use to encourage investments from funding institutions in both philanthropy and government to build relationships and power to advance health equity. The central core work at FCCP, Bissonnette said, is to encourage investment in organizations and communities in ways that could build long-term power and resilience to really shift the balance of power and to put trust in those that are on the ground and who know the needs of their communities.
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From page 36... ...
Abrams McLean said that what gives her hope is seeing the change over time in communities -- from someone waiting for their American Community Survey to arrive in the mail to a young person talking about the importance of voting.
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