Expanding Equity Inclusion & Belonging Guidebook

May 1, 2022

As many corporate leaders know, inclusion and belonging are vital to company health and success. Creating workplaces where every employee can bring their whole selves to work leads to deeper levels of commitment and higher levels of innovation. A key question is: how can leaders and companies create a culture that embodies a feeling of inclusion and a sense of belonging for all employees? This guidebook, created as part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Expanding Equity program, will support you on that journey through the following sections: 1. What is racial equity? 2. Putting the "I" in DE&I 3. Talking About Race (and Racism) in the Workplace 4. Moving Beyond Allyship to Sponsorship 5. Developing Champions for Racial Equity

Employment Equity; Racial Equity and Healing

The Quest For Equity and Quality Examining Provider Experiences and Participation in Texas Rising Star

April 1, 2022

Exposure to high-quality child care is the foundation for a child's academic and social-emotional success, especially for children from low-income families. Increasing access to subsidized child care is one of the many strategies used to provide affordable early education to children from low-income families. However, increasing access alone is not enough when it comes to early learning. Children need to be in high-quality care to reap the many benefits.One systematic way to measure and increase quality of child care programs is through a state's Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). QRIS is a systematic framework used to measure, improve, and communicate the quality of early childhood education (ECE) providers across a range of indicators. In Texas, this system is called Texas Rising Star (TRS). TRS is only open to child care providers who accept families receiving subsidy child care assistance. While TRS offers incentives for participation including professional development and increased reimbursement rates, currently TRS reaches only a fraction of lowincome children and the providers.

New Orleans and the Hollow Prize Problem: Structural Limits on Black Political Power

January 10, 2022

Mayors in the United States often have more influence on the day-to-day activities of residents within their unique jurisdictions thanany other elected office. While each U.S. president holds significant power as Commander-In-Chief, the primary direct interface mostcitizens have with the U.S. Government is either through its taxing function or by receiving some form of financial benefit such as SocialSecurity or Medicaid. Each governor has wide powers in determining state funding priorities for highways, healthcare, and education,but not all citizens rely on these services to the same degree. Mayors, however, have a say in the provision of the services that residents use every single day. This includes water, sewerage, electricity, sanitation, roads, and drainage, to name a few.1

Community-Led Health Equity Programs Deliver Results

December 15, 2021

Public Health leaders know that location matters and has a significant impact on an individual's health—and initiatives that have the highest impact focus on localized conditions and speak directly to community needs. Nicole Alexander-Scott (director, Rhode Island Department of Health) and Katie Lamansky (health program manager, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare) discuss why place-based interventions are a key strategy for health agencies to advance health equity. We examine the Health Equity Zone model and share what states can borrow from it to reimagine how they engage with communities.

Health Equity

Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity: Diagnose Biases and Systems

November 3, 2021

Why focus on biases and systems? Everyone has racial biases, whether they like to admit it or not. They can have a stereotype positive or negative about a racial or ethnic group and when they meet someone from that group, they often treat that person differently without even realizing it. It is important to recognize that implicit biases are deeply rooted and that even individuals with the best intentions can have them. Good intention or not, racial biases can cause harm. And it is up to the individual feeling the bias to decide if it is harmful saying "that wasn't my intention" does not change the outcome for the person or community on the receiving end. This is why it is so important for us, as evaluators, to put in the time and work to uncover and address our implicit biases so we can better understand ourselves so can make better decisions and bring attention to others in our circles.

Racial Equity and Healing

Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity: Debunk Myths

November 3, 2021

Why focus on myths? Myths are popular beliefs or traditions that are not true, but because these beliefs or traditions are passed along unchallenged, people start to believe they are true. Myths about key concepts in evaluation such as rigor and objectivity are shaped by our mental models' frames of how something works that guide our perceptions, behaviors and how we approach and relate to both other people and our surroundings. These mental models tint and narrow our view of the world we encounter.

Racial Equity and Healing

Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity: Deepen Community Engagement

November 3, 2021

Why focus on engagement? The term community engagement is so easy to say. The term connects people with each other, and it seems so simple, so natural and so human. We place the term community engagement before a convening, meeting or act as a symbol of our good intentions (Chavis & Lee, 2015). It conjures images of neighbors making and delivering food to vulnerable residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, people of color advocating for equitable treatment of young Black men and residents at a county council meeting expressing their concerns about the lack of healthy and fresh food in the community. It is so common a term that we almost never define it or explain what we mean by it.

Racial Equity and Healing

For Want of a Dentist: The Rise of the Dental Therapy Movement in Tribal Nations and the U.S., Lessons from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

November 1, 2021

Dental therapy is a proven community-based solution that ensures all children and families in America have access to oral health care, parents have access to professional wage jobs and communities improve population health. Since 2006, WKKF has supported Tribal and non-Native communities coming together to highlight the need for dental therapists.As a new type of mid-level dental provider, dental therapists are delivering care to communities where dental care was not accessible for everyone. Dental therapists increase access to oral health care, expand the dental team and promote economic development. Moving forward it will take coalitions of civic, nonprofit, philanthropic and public and private sector leaders to continue engaging with communities. For this vision to become real, communities must acknowledge oral health disparities and racial inequities, heal those wounds and move forward to implement strategies that can allow dental therapists to provide much-needed care to patients.

Oral Health

Finance and Payment Innovation: Improving Equity in Perinatal Care and Maternal and Infant Outcomes

September 1, 2021

While the U.S. spends approximately $111 billion per year on perinatal (prenatal, birth and newborn) care, maternal and infant health outcomes are among the worst of any high-income nation and racial disparities continue. Efforts to improve outcomes generally focus on coverage, health care delivery systems and payments. Many innovations and ideas have emerged in recent years. This brief will help stakeholders concerned with maternal and infant health in Michigan understand the strengths and weaknesses of payment reforms for maternity or perinatal care, costs, and outcomes, including their impact on equity. The role of Medicaid and the beneficiaries it covers are emphasized, including Michigan data and examples from other states' efforts. This work is based on information from published studies, efforts of federal and state agencies, and national expert recommendations. Maternal Child Health (MCH) leaders inside and outside of government can use this information to support the design and development of any proposed perinatal payment reforms.

Health Equity; Maternal and Child Health

W.K. Kellogg Foundation U.S.-Based Workforce and Board Composition Report by Race/Ethnicity, Gender and Job Category

August 31, 2021

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has produced a report to show the composition of United States based workforce by race/ethnicity, gender and job category.

Diversifying the Healthcare Workforce: Implications for Birth Outcomes

August 1, 2021

A diverse maternal and child health workplace is one that has employees of different ages, genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and personality bringing a multitude of lived experiences to institutions and organizations. The benefits of having a diverse workforce are far-reaching and include improvements to innovation, increased productivity, increased team communication and engagement (1-3). Overall, the U.S. population continues to become more diverse, and, in some states, there is a majority-minority population. This occurs when 50% or more of the population is composed of racial and ethnic minorities (3). While the population has continued to diversify, the healthcare workforce has not kept pace. These continued changes in the racial and ethnic make-up of the general population makes it likely that health professionals will engage with patients that have different cultural backgrounds from their own. The lack of diversity in the workforce across all health professions has revealed a national public health issue that needs attention. Initiatives and sustainable strategies for all local, state and federal levels and within public and private sectors will help better ensure that the healthcare workforce meets the needs of the diverse patient population and reflects the racial and ethnic diversity across the nation and in Michigan.

Employment Equity; Health Equity; Maternal and Child Health

Power Beyond Measure 2021

April 20, 2021

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color is a new research agenda that outlines six strategies for advancing equity and opportunity for Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) in the U.S.These strategies and recommendations lift up ways to ensure BMOC voices and perspectives are reflected in research and funding; to promote power and capacity-building in their communities; and to build more equitable, anti-racist research and evaluation systems.

Resource Directory