PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES

Public Health Advocates partners with top academic institutions to conduct epidemiological research and develop compelling data-based descriptions of the health and social problems we are addressing. We commonly describe findings by city, county, and legislative district to make them as meaningful as possible to makers and the media.

Together with likeminded partners, Public Health Advocates sponsors and supports legislation that fosters health equity, promotes social justice, and expands opportunity for communities facing the greatest barriers to wellbeing. Our current statewide California efforts focus on restorative justice and criminal justice reform, food access, diabetes and sugary drinks, homelessness, marijuana equity, and childhood trauma. Our lobbying efforts are funded through donations of unrestricted funds.

Public parks support physical and emotional health, promote social cohesion, bolster local economies, and make neighborhoods more attractive places to live, work, and play. Funded by The California Endowment, the California Wellness Foundation, and the Gilbert Foundation, Public Health Advocates is partnering with KDI to help low-income cities to get California Prop 68 park bond grants so they can build new parks or expand/renovate existing ones in impoverished, park-poor neighborhoods.

Racism and other forms of structural oppression have a direct impact on individual and community wellbeing. Through our Stockton Faces of Resilience project supported by the Sierra Health Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, Public Health Advocates is training youth organizers to advocate for school district policies that prohibit racial discrimination, expand restorative justice practices, and promote mental health.

With 16 teaspoons of sugar per 20-ounce bottle, sodas and other sugary drinks are leading contributors to obesity and diabetes. Kick the Can is a groundbreaking California campaign to “give the boot” to sugary drinks by educating the public and policy makers about the harmful impact of these beverages, and working with communities to establish state and local laws regulating the beverage industry’s sale and promotion of sugar-laden products.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is helping selected underserved communities across the country to identify and promote Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH). Our CDC-funded REACH project partners with African American churches and community based organizations in Stockton to increase opportunities for physical activity, expand access to healthy food and beverages, and prevent and address childhood trauma.

Today’s urgent and costly health and social problems—homelessness, violence, addiction, depression, and chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes—are often rooted in childhood trauma and toxic stress. All Children Thrive is an equity-focused, city-based, community-driven initiative to prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and foster individual and community healing and resilience. The campaign, a partnership with UCLA, is funded by the State of California.

Where you live shouldn’t determine how long you live—yet it often does. As part of The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities initiative to transform communities devastated by health inequities, Public Health Advocates helps students and parents in Boyle Heights (Los Angeles County) advocate for clean water, a comprehensive wellness center, and restorative justice at Roosevelt High School. These efforts have led to important districtwide school policy change.

Despite legal protections, transgender Californians experience some of the most extreme health and mental health disparities. Through California TRANScends, Public Health Advocates is helping to enhance the capacity of established and emerging transgender-led community organizations to win and sustain state and local policies promoting transgender health equity in California.