“At our core, public health is about community”: PHI Statement on U.S. Elections

Statement from Melissa Stafford Jones, President & CEO, Public Health Institute

“At our core, public health is about community: by design, by definition, by how we work. The heart at the center of PHI’s work is our mission, values and commitment to health and equity for everyone to thrive, particularly communities that have been most excluded from the systems we live within. That will never waver. While the strategies we use to achieve our goals will always adapt to address the challenges we face, the north star of our work will not.

“We remain committed to strengthening, re-visioning and building a public health ecosystem that works for all of us. Addressing an issue at the root cause means not just operating within our existing systems but changing those systems and doing the work differently to better support individuals and communities to thrive, to be healthy and well. We do not do this work alone, but in collaboration and community with a broad network of public health and other partners.

“We must continue to keep community at our core. While we prepare to address changes and challenges resulting from the recent national elections, we will also continue to act at the local, regional and neighborhood level to improve systems and address the impacts of structural racism and exclusion on health equity. Centering the needs of communities, working beyond silos, building trust by listening and then acting on what we hear and learn, working across systems with different partners in new ways: This is how we create belonging and build community, and these are the places that we will always do our best work.

“This is the time to hold to our purpose, to what is good, and to the impact we have in the world.”