FAQs

What is the Roots of Health Inequity Course Series?

The Roots of Health Inequity is a free, online learning collaborative for current and future public health professionals. The goal of this series is to address a need expressed by public health practitioners to better tackle the root causes of health inequities.

Ongoing social injustice affects the way people live, their chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. With growing degrees of social and economic inequality, marginalized communities – people with low incomes, of color, with different abilities, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and more – continue to have disproportionately high rates of adverse health outcomes. Root causes and structural determinants of health inequity play a fundamental role in people’s ability to gain access to resources and opportunities required for health and well- being.

This revised resource equips participants with tools necessary to understand, identify and more directly act on the root causes of health inequity to implement equitable public health initiatives. Participants can explore the social processes that create health inequities, strategize effective ways to act on root causes, and engage with colleagues and partners working to end health inequity. Create an account to start your journey today.

How has the Roots of Health Inequity been improved?

Building off the original version, the revised Roots adds new content and features to facilitate the learning experience, empowering current and future health professionals to take action to dismantle deeply entrenched injustices. 

Here's what you can expect:

• Deeper Dive: The Roots of Health Inequity Course Series expands each unit from the original Roots of Health Inequity course into individual courses as part of a course series and delves deeper into the root causes of health inequities with 4 all-new courses, examining a range of topics, including why a root cause approach is crucial to eradicating health inequity; how to leverage power in public health; how to build power with communities; and improve equity within our organizations. Other courses have also been updated with new content, adding novel frameworks, definitions, and stories from communities all over the United States.
• New Voices: The series features interviews with a diverse array of expert researchers, community organizers and practitioners, centering the experiences of engaging community members to build power, advance social justice, and change narratives.
• Interactive Learning: The Roots of Health Inequity Course Series embraces a new user interface for a dynamic learning environment, featuring immersive case studies, interactive exercises, and discussion prompts for facilitated dialogue that spark critical thinking and ignite collaborative problem-solving. The platform also adds AI functionality to help users navigate the course and tailor their learning.
• Building a Community: The Roots of Health Inequity Course Series allows users to form learning groups to navigate the courses together, sharing experiences, exchanging best practices, and drawing strength from one another. Throughout the courses, the platform captures and shares responses to discussion prompts anonymously, allowing users to share their own experiences engaging with content and view the thoughts of other users.

Who is the course series available to?

Anyone interested in addressing the root causes of health inequities may register for the course series for free. Root's primary audience is public health practitioners and students in schools of public health. However, a secondary audience includes any groups or individuals committed to ending health inequity, including grassroots organizations, community organizers and other civil society organizations that work toward health and social justice. Participants can explore the social processes that create health inequities, strategize effective ways to act on these root causes, and form relationships with other groups (i.e. LHDs) working towards health equity. The course series is available for both group and individual learners.

Are the Roots Courses good Health Equity 101s?

The Roots of Health Inequity Course Series is not a health equity 101. This is a comprehensive learning tool for people who are ready to begin the work of tackling health inequity at a more intermediate or above level. Each course includes content to explore key terminologies, histories, and other foundational concepts for health equity before exploring strategies. If you are brand new to health equity and find it overwhelming to discuss topics, such as racism, white supremacy, capitalism, gender, or power, a strong facilitator can be a great resource for engaging this content in a group learning environment. These courses are meant to challenge you and learning alongside others can expose you to different perspectives that can help you reflect on the content. Additionally, consider exploring the resources on our NACCHO Roots of Health Inequity Webpage to supplement your journey with Roots and reach out to us at rootsofhealthinequity@naccho.org if you have any questions.

Do the courses have to be taken all at once?

The course series was revised to adopt a “choose your own adventure” model. Users are encouraged to take one course, all courses, or use content from across the series for a more tailored training experience. All courses, their learning objectives, and overview videos can be found on the course preview pages to help you determine your training goals. If you need additional help deciding which course or courses to take, reach out to us at rootsofhealthinequity@naccho.org.

How long does the course series take to complete?

Course completion time will vary, depending on your learning goals, modalities, and if you are taking the courses independently or as a group. To best utilize Roots, we recommend a group learning format and encourage participants to commit 1-2 hours a week for 5-6 weeks per course. Group leaders can assign content for learners to review in advance and then facilitate dialogue about course content on a weekly basis. Transformational learning takes time, intention, and reflection. We recommend this format to give participants enough time to dissect each chapter and reflect on topics. Discussion prompts, Voices features, videos, activities, interactives and case studies are available throughout each course to further support your learning.

Is the course free?

Yes, The Roots of Health Inequity Course Series is free to use.

Is there a Facilitation Guide?

Our Facilitator's Guide is available to download on MyNACCHO for free. Just create a free MyNACCHO account. Additionally, the Facilitator's Guide is viewable on the Dashboard page if you are signed into the course as a ‘group leader’. The guide includes an overview of the course content, tips on how to facilitate social justice dialogues, suggested activities, sample worksheets and more.

To create a MyNACCHO account:

1. Visit the myNACCHO Sign-In page, or click “MYNACCHO LOGIN” in the upper-right corner of NACCHO’s homepage.
2. Click “Create Account” under New Users.
3. Enter your preferred E-mail address, First Name, and Last Name to verify if you have an existing myNACCHO account. If there are no matching results, click “Create New Account” and follow the instructions.
   • If you do have a matching result, please keep those login credentials handy, as you will need them to access upcoming Roots resources.

Does the Roots of Health Inequity offer CEU credits?

We are currently looking into accreditation for the courses to be able to offer CEU credits.

What support will be provided along with the new Roots?

Potential users are always welcome to contact us. Additionally, new resources and opportunities will be promoted on our NACCHO Roots webpage as well as the Roots of Health Inequity newsletter. The newsletter is released monthly with updates related to the course series, resources, funding opportunities, relevant jobs and more! To join our newsletter mailing list, click "Roots of Health Inequity Newsletter" using this MyNACCHO link.

Where can I learn more?

1. Contact us
2. NACCHO website
3. Social media: follow our social media platforms!
4. Roots of Health Inequity Newsletter

If I have more questions, who do I reach out to?

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!