Green spaces are an important part of healthy neighborhoods, providing residents safe places to exercise, socialize, and enjoy the outdoors. However, because of racist and exclusionary practices, such as segregation and redlining, many communities lack them. In partnership with the Prevention Institute, BMSG is working to promote green space equity through the People, Parks, and Power National Funding Initiative (P3).
BMSG is proud to be a part of Public Health Awakened, a group of public health professionals organizing for health, equity, and justice. Public Health Awakened works with social justice movements on strategic and collective action to create a world in which everyone can thrive and to resist the threats facing communities of color and low-income communities.
Through this project, BMSG will act as a thought partner to The Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF), which has committed to storytelling as a powerful tool in their ongoing mission of improving the health of all Californians.
Through funding from The California Endowment and the Blue Shield Foundation of California, Berkeley Media Studies Group is working with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, the Public Health Alliance of Southern California, and the San Joaquin Valley Public Health Consortium to support local health departments and their partners communicate more effectively about racial and health inequities and build their organizational capacity to advance equity in communities throughout the state.
BMSG and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) coordinate the Food Marketing Workgroup, a network of more than 200 organizations and academic experts in the U.S. who are concerned about the proliferation of marketing of unhealthful foods and beverages that targets children and adolescents.
To make health equity and racial justice a reality, we must change the narratives that justify and perpetuate inequitable policies and systems. Berkeley Media Studies Group is excited to be part of a Consortium of practitioners across multiple disciplines working to understand, address, and shift mindsets that are reinforcing structural racism — a barrier to health equity — so we can achieve equitable health and well-being.
