WELCOME TO THE HEALTH EQUITY COLLECTIVE
Join the Collective and help build a better, more equitable health ecosystem
The Health Equity Collective brings together passionate people & organizations, including those with lived experience and those who work in healthcare, social service, academia, and government serving the region and are ready for a systemic, population-level approach to addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH).
Our best opportunity to bridge the gap between health and healthcare and improve health equity is together through shifting systems and building capacity for addressing upstream drivers for health.
We aim to establish an impactful, sustainable, data-driven system to promote health equity and address the social drivers of health outcomes.
Our vision is health equity for all Greater Houston Area residents.
To read more about our approach and plan, click here.
Actions for Health
The Health Equity Collective is dedicated to addressing the social, economic, and environmental factors, also known as Non-Medical Drivers of Health (NMDOH) that account for up to 80% of an individual’s health.
In the U.S., where more is spent on medical care than on social care, health outcomes remain poor due to systemic barriers and a lack of integrated healthcare systems. We aim to create a sustainable, data-driven system that promotes health equity by connecting healthcare and social services.
Our initial focus includes:
- Reducing food insecurity in the Greater Houston region by 5% by 2025, which improve health outcomes related to diabetes, obesity, mental health, and COVID-19.
- Building a comprehensive data-sharing ecosystem to understand and address the social determinants of health (SDOH).
Our Key initiatives:
- Strengthening the Community Health Workers ecosystem
In partnership with City of Houston Health Department, we’ve gathered stakeholders across fields to advance CHWs’ priorities, inform the implementation of CHW legislation, increase training opportunities, and dissipate findings.
- Implementing a Community Information Exchange
This creates a bi-directional flow between healthcare and social service data systems to improve care coordination.
How We Work
Designed around the drivers of health and the levers for change, the Health Equity Collective operationalizes its mission through its backbone leads, steering committee, task forces, and workgroups- each with a goal that mutually reinforces and advances the Health Equity Collective’s vision.
Communications Workgroup
Increases awareness of our impact and boosts engagement in multi-sector efforts.
Community Health Worker & Human Capacity Ecosystem Taskforce
Gathers organizations seeking to advance the CHW workforce’s priorities and dissipate practices
Community Information Exchange & Data Sharing Ecosystem Taskforce
Improves our region's technical capacity for population-level analysis to create a closed-loop referral system.
Community Voice Workgroup
Lifts the voices of the intended beneficiaries of our efforts to inform the design & development of our actions for health.
Food Security Workgroup
Develops a shared set of evidence-based interventions to improve food security and healthy food intake.
Mental Health & Substance Use Workgroup
Advances efforts, training sessions, and best practices to meet mental health needs and combat stigma
Policy Workgroup
Connects SDoH efforts to existing policy and advocacy platforms to advance priorities in our region.
To read more about the framework guiding our work, click here.
Resources
Health Equity Collective: Overview on LinkedIn
Research & Reports
The Health Equity Collective provides a wide variety of evidence-based resources related to the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and regular progress updates.
Newsroom
Get updated on the Health Equity Collective’s latest news stories.
May 12, 2021 | UT Health News
February 2021 | Cy-Fair Community Impact Newspaper
Events
Networking & Learning Sessions
We host monthly themed networking sessions as well as regular learning opportunities and workshops to promote a shared learning environment, incorporating perspectives from local, state, and national experts. To view past recorded sessions, visit our YouTube channel here, to attend upcoming sessions, see our calendar below.
Quarterly Meeting
Join us for in-person or virtual quarterly meetings to find out about the Collective’s progress.
Contact Us
#DrivingBetterHealthTogether
The Health Equity Collective welcomes interested individuals and organizations to join as general members, participating in quarterly update sessions and being added to our newsletter, and also leaders who are looking to roll up their sleeves and commit time and resources to our workgroups and initiatives.
Please take a few minutes to send us a message telling us a little about you, the focus of your work, and how you wish to engage the Collective.
Contact us at [email protected]