WEBVTT 00:00:09.761 --> 00:00:13.860 Hello and welcome to course 9 Building Community Power 00:00:13.927 --> 00:00:16.617 Community power is the ability of a community 00:00:16.657 --> 00:00:19.710 to control the decisions that affect their lives. 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:21.317 This can lead to collective actions 00:00:21.357 --> 00:00:23.494 that benefit the whole of the community 00:00:23.534 --> 00:00:25.989 through positive social change. 00:00:26.029 --> 00:00:28.710 But community power is not a given. 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:32.950 We have to organize to build and solidify our strength. 00:00:33.300 --> 00:00:37.067 In this course we'll learn how we as public health professionals 00:00:37.107 --> 00:00:41.300 can help build community power, and with it health equity. 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:44.321 We'll take a look at the role of community in public health. 00:00:44.361 --> 00:00:47.234 Examine how we can move from a paternalistic approach, 00:00:47.274 --> 00:00:49.608 to a collaborative, supportive role. 00:00:49.648 --> 00:00:53.648 And how we can build power with communities and organizations, 00:00:53.791 --> 00:00:58.480 so that they can advance their own visions to create a healthier country. 00:00:58.598 --> 00:01:02.598 Public health recognizes that community engagement is important. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:06.150 If we want to serve the community we have to talk to them. 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:09.300 However there are different approaches to community engagement 00:01:09.350 --> 00:01:13.050 that can facilitate more or less power for the community. 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:16.075 We can see these different approaches depicted along a spectrum. 00:01:16.115 --> 00:01:19.230 There are many different community engagement spectrums. 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:22.840 We're going to focus on the spectrum of Community Engagement 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.350 to Ownership by the Movement Strategy Center 00:01:25.410 --> 00:01:30.651 because it helps us think about moving beyond community engagement to community power. 00:01:30.691 --> 00:01:34.820 The default for many organizations has been to ignore the community. 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:41.000 In too many instances governments, corporations, and community serving organizations 00:01:41.087 --> 00:01:45.087 including Public Health have chosen to set their own agendas 00:01:45.199 --> 00:01:48.480 when it comes to addressing community challenges. 00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:54.450 From an ignore stance, we assume we know best what the community needs. 00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:58.573 And that their voices, needs and interests do not matter. 00:01:59.035 --> 00:02:01.997 What ends up happening is that community members 00:02:02.037 --> 00:02:06.037 who are already marginalized become even more so 00:02:06.088 --> 00:02:09.118 and power inequities get worse. 00:02:09.158 --> 00:02:11.933 But many in public health have moved beyond this stage 00:02:11.973 --> 00:02:15.353 and will at least engage the community to share information. 00:02:15.393 --> 00:02:18.613 For example we might share data with community members 00:02:18.653 --> 00:02:21.907 about health trends or existing resources. 00:02:21.947 --> 00:02:25.765 The community can then use this information to improve individual health 00:02:25.805 --> 00:02:29.805 or develop strategies to address community health issues that are important to them. 00:02:30.868 --> 00:02:37.300 While informing the community is better than ignoring them, this is still very unidirectional. 00:02:37.350 --> 00:02:43.400 It doesn't build power and in fact maintains inequitable power relations 00:02:43.450 --> 00:02:45.950 between public health and the community. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.500 The community is expected to just wait for public health 00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:50.705 to come and impart wisdom and knowledge. 00:02:52.284 --> 00:02:54.890 But there are limits to our knowledge 00:02:54.920 --> 00:02:59.650 and at some point public health comes to realize we don't have all the answers. 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:01.464 When we think about community engagement in public health 00:03:03.707 --> 00:03:09.500 the Consult and Involve stages are where we find most of our approaches land. 00:03:09.691 --> 00:03:12.500 Or at least where many are striving to be. 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:17.049 in the Consult stage, public health will use community forums, focus groups, 00:03:18.274 --> 00:03:22.274 surveys and other methods to collect input from the community. 00:03:22.603 --> 00:03:26.603 we want to hear what they think about a plan, project, or decision. 00:03:27.038 --> 00:03:31.038 In theory this is a great first step, we've moved from 00:03:31.124 --> 00:03:36.000 unidirectional engagement with the community, to bidirectional engagement. 00:03:36.089 --> 00:03:41.500 However, in practice, this often comes at a point too late in the process 00:03:41.791 --> 00:03:45.791 when a decision has already been made about a plan or project. 00:03:46.368 --> 00:03:52.360 So the community's input ends up having very little, if any, impact at all. 00:03:52.642 --> 00:03:56.328 This leaves community members who were engaged, feeling tokenized. 00:03:56.368 --> 00:04:00.146 Again inequitable power relations between public health 00:04:00.186 --> 00:04:03.187 and the community remain the same. 00:04:03.227 --> 00:04:07.227 At the Involve stage we start to get more intentional. 00:04:07.515 --> 00:04:11.438 Ideally, we involve the community earlier on in the process, 00:04:11.478 --> 00:04:15.478 and we view them as significant contributors to our plans and processes. 00:04:16.633 --> 00:04:20.041 Their needs and interests are much more integrated 00:04:20.081 --> 00:04:23.147 into both the planning and decision making. 00:04:23.187 --> 00:04:26.552 Some of the ways we see this in public health is through 00:04:26.592 --> 00:04:31.580 advisory committees, community dialogues and community planning meetings. 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:35.561 This is a great stage to be in because you're really able to 00:04:35.601 --> 00:04:37.091 build trust with the community. 00:04:37.131 --> 00:04:41.131 But also you're starting to share and leverage power together. 00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:45.400 However we can still run into challenges around structures of participation. 00:04:45.456 --> 00:04:48.861 Not necessarily everyone who needs to be represented 00:04:48.901 --> 00:04:51.503 can easily access our processes. 00:04:51.543 --> 00:04:55.063 For example, the most marginalized groups in the community. 00:04:55.103 --> 00:04:59.800 So, for some parts of the community, inequitable power relations will persist. 00:04:59.885 --> 00:05:05.160 At the Collaborate stage, we are really starting to shift power 00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:11.000 within our initiatives we are creating opportunities for communities to lead parts of the process. 00:05:11.050 --> 00:05:14.300 This takes a lot of time, effort and resources. 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:18.175 However community leadership and expertise are critical 00:05:18.215 --> 00:05:20.765 to the success of Public Health projects. 00:05:20.805 --> 00:05:25.000 We must work together with the community to make the projects truly collaborative. 00:05:25.118 --> 00:05:28.939 The final stage of the spectrum is Defer To. 00:05:28.979 --> 00:05:33.300 By deferring to community members, we are not just sharing power 00:05:33.375 --> 00:05:36.601 with the community, we've actually shifted power to them. 00:05:36.641 --> 00:05:39.860 With full community ownership of the decision-making process, 00:05:39.900 --> 00:05:43.100 public health's role becomes that of a supporter. 00:05:43.150 --> 00:05:45.875 Depending on what the community decides, we might 00:05:45.915 --> 00:05:51.100 participate, listen, facilitate, or implement the decisions of the community. 00:05:51.201 --> 00:05:54.854 This is a huge mindset shift and can feel difficult 00:05:54.894 --> 00:05:56.946 or uncomfortable for public health. 00:05:56.986 --> 00:06:01.300 That's why it's important to put the time, effort and intention 00:06:01.412 --> 00:06:04.300 into transforming our institutional processes 00:06:04.400 --> 00:06:08.522 and building strong, mutual relationships with the community. 00:06:08.562 --> 00:06:14.560 In this stage, we recognize our community as equals and partners with power of their own. 00:06:15.013 --> 00:06:19.500 As supportive partners we've helped foster democratic participation, 00:06:19.596 --> 00:06:23.690 community decision making and community power building. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.923 No matter where you are on the spectrum, there are small steps you can 00:06:30.007 --> 00:06:34.007 take to move from ignoring and informing to collaboration and deferring to. 00:06:35.102 --> 00:06:38.303 And if you're ready, there's even more to think about 00:06:38.343 --> 00:06:42.660 when it comes to building and shifting power, community organizing and 00:06:42.868 --> 00:06:47.000 leveraging different mechanisms of change alongside the community. 00:06:47.400 --> 00:06:50.145 In this course you'll explore numerous readings and interactives 00:06:50.185 --> 00:06:52.549 that break down the process in detail. 00:06:52.589 --> 00:06:54.816 Take time to dig into the readings. 00:06:54.856 --> 00:06:57.568 Discuss things with your team, and work at what it means 00:06:57.608 --> 00:07:00.680 to engage with the community and shift power. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.389 Course 9 is a fascinating look at how we can do our jobs more deeply, 00:07:04.429 --> 00:07:09.300 build power with the community and foster better public health for everyone. 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:13.600 So dig deep into Course 9 and start building!