Policy and Equity Transformation

Since it was founded in 2006, Center for Health Equity has been leading the way to advance health equity. Years before the CDC issued guidance that local health departments should move towards population health, CHE was researching and making recommendations about the root causes of population health. The Policy and Transformation team is the latest in our organizational efforts to address root causes of health both internally (through our Equity Infrastructure Team) and externally (through our Policy Team).

CHE produces a Health Equity Report which examines the root causes, or social determinants, of health inequities in our community. The influential 2017 Health Equity Report has been referenced in reports and publications by organizations like the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. Our fourth report will be released in 2023 and was created in collaboration with members of our Community Advisory Board, as well as feedback from eight policy sessions with over 50 organizations in the summer of 2021.

CHE uses a Health in All Policies approach, which means that any policy can have a connection and impact to health. We work with partners across a variety of sectors to analyze, research and share information on policies. The Policy Team conducts Policy Briefs and Health Impact Assessments to inform elected officials and the public about potential intended and unintended consequences of proposed legislation at the city and state level. Policy Team also reviews ordinances and bills to provide comparative analyses of legal language from various jurisdictions as well as policy evaluations to understand the impacts of implemented policies. Staff at CHE have also completed a legal epidemiology project which they presented at a conference and were asked to present as a webinar. 
 
Our Equity Infrastructure Team uses the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) Framework of Normalize, Organize, Operationalize to structure our work and partnerships internally to LMPHW to advance racial and health equity in our internal policies, practices, data, and decisions. We provide trainings on health equity concepts and racial equity work. If you are interested in partnering with us for a training or presentation, please visit this page to request more information.