Monterey County Health Department (MCHD) Health Equity Scholars Academy (HESA) seeks applicants that have an interest in understanding social justice and equity for low-income and communities of Color, have a strong personal motivation, seek learning and growth opportunities, and are dedicated to personal, professional and leadership development.

Mission: The Academy strives to empower all Monterey County Health Department employees to affect change in Monterey County.  Each module builds on the previous one, and includes values that our services are effective, efficient, safe, equitable and timely.  The mission is to train health workforce leaders to work towards prioritizing equity into services, programs and strategic plans’ systems.   

We see our mission in training public health workforce leaders to transform the culture of our department to be intentional in our work around health equity.  The Academy’s mission incorporates the strategic plans systems integration to carry these initiatives forward for the Monterey County Health Department with a focus on prevention that advocates Health in All Policies. A whole government approach to HiAP acknowledges that health and well-being are influenced by government sectors other than the health sector alone.

Vision:  The Health Equity Scholars Academy explores a systems orientated approach to enhancing people’s status to address health inequities and injustices in our local communities.  The Academy is based on the principle that differences in status generates differences in health outcomes, unlike the conventional view of health disparities that points the finger at access and personal behavior.  HESA will provide folks with practical skills and tools to educate their peers and address health disparities in the communities we serve.  The modules are interactive and attempt to bring forth the life experiences of our staff participants for more enriching learning experience.

Module I: Overview of Monterey County and Racial Equity

Module II: Racing to Health: US History development of Race

Module III: Social and Health Equity

Module IV: Culturally Inclusive Models

Module V: Community Capacity Building

Health Equity Scholars Academy:  Course Overview

Module I: Overview of Monterey County and Racial Equity 

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the local impact of inequities
• Understand Monterey County Department and services

Module II: Racing to Health: US History development of Race

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the underlying social, economic and political conditions used to define race in the United States
• Understand and identify institutional and structural racism

Module III: Social and Health Equity

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact on implicit and explicit bias
• Increase awareness of social determinates in quality of life

Module IV: Culturally Inclusive Models

Learning Objectives:

• Identify regulations and laws that support cultural competency integration in government funded programs
• Understand root cause analysis tool in health equity

Module V: Community Capacity Building

Learning Objectives:

• Increase knowledge of MCHD Community Capacity Building (CCB) projects, and how they reduce health inequities
• Explore the benefits and challenges of CCB

The Monterey County Health Department exists to enhance, protect and improve the health of the people in Monterey County

We applaud your effort to seek avenues that empower yourself, your workplace, and your communities.

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