Advocates Call on Governor Newsom to Invest in Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund

Sacramento, CA — A statewide coalition for a proposed Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund released the following statement in response to the California legislature’s passage of its budget for FY 2021-2022.

This proposal is supported by: Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL), Black Women for Wellness Action Project, California Black Health Network, California Black Women’s Health Project, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, Public Health Advocates, Public Health Institute, Roots Community Health Center, and Roots of Change and nearly 350 other organizations and individuals from across the state.

ACT NOW: With the California legislature committed, all that’s left is the Governor’s approval. Join us in telling the Governor that our communities deserve this fund, and it needs to stay in the final budget. Click here for easy ways to take action.

“Our coalition thanks the legislature for recognizing the need for deep and ongoing investments in health equity and racial justice. The legislature has proposed $100 million annually to support Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund interventions including grants to community-based organizations, clinics and tribal organizations to address health disparities.

“The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how racism is deeply rooted in our policies, budgets, and systems. Black, Indigenous, communities of color, low income, and LGBTQ+ communities face worse health outcomes and shorter life spans due to both barriers to health and barriers to determinants that make us healthy like housing, education, food, and more. If unaddressed, BIPOC communities will endure life-long consequences due to health inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. 

“We thank the legislature for recognizing how comprehensive a challenge it is to build greater justice in health, including not only infrastructure and workforce, but also funding directly to trusted CBOs to build greater health equity by addressing conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, and play that impact health, racial justice, and prevention.

“We urge Governor Newsom to sign this historic, innovative budget to put California at the forefront of addressing health equity and racial justice in our health systems to yield better health outcomes. With an unprecedented surplus and the stark, urgent need to address health disparities in every form, we simply cannot afford to do any less.”