Who is The Public Health Millennial?
The Public Health Millennial is a web-based platform consisting of enriching podcasts, blogs and community resources tailored toward public health career navigation for millennials with a health equity foundation. We at GroundBreakers had the special pleasure to speak with organization founder, Omari Richins, who is a heath equity advocate, content creator and health improvement program officer at Kate B Reynolds Charitable Trust. In our exciting discussion, Richins shared more about the state of racial health equity through the lens of millennials and the progress The Public Health Millennial has made and intends to continue making in the health improvement and career development of young adults.
Front and Center: Racial and Ethnic Health Equity
In our discussion, Richins discussed our current landscape of racial inequity, and how the amplification of voices of colors is imperative in efforts to advance equity. To give context to racial inequity, Richins shared critical background on health disparities in the United States; “Systems have been intentionally set up to operate and give the results they do. And they have been inherently set up as inequitable. They have inherently been set up to oppress other people, and those people just happen to be [people of color]. And if you look at all the social determinants of health, you’d see that, especially Black populations, suffer disproportionate amounts of health disparities… these are systemic things that have happened to disenfranchise people.” Richins went on to describe the manner in which structural racism serves as a center point for adverse outcomes among racial and ethnic minorities, ranging from economic disenfranchisement, to food deserts, to limited access to health care, and much more. These gripping realities for people of color in the United States have served as Richins’ largest motivator in his work at The Public Health Millennial, which aims to center the perspectives of the next generation of leaders in racial and ethnic health equity. He urges, “We need to start giving the power to the people that have been left out of those conversations for centuries to really ensure that they’re at the tables, or that we are creating new tables for them to take up space so that we are able to shift the systems and hold the systems accountable and working better for the most vulnerable and disinvested.”
A Voice for the Next Generation of Public Health and Health Equity
Specifically, The Public Health Millennial strives to dismantle structural racism and advance health equity through the lens of young adults and early career professionals. Public Health Millennial is an online platform that builds a robust, digital community to assist emerging public health professionals in building their future. Richins shared, “It is very important to create spaces where people are able to learn about health, equity, health inequities, racism, anti-racism, white supremacy and having spaces to talk about it as well…it’s a necessary conversation–hard conversation, but necessary to drive this work forward.” By way of podcasts, blogs, social media activity and a host of other digital resources, Richins and his network are doing incredible work as advocates for not only for young adults ready to kick off their careers in health equity, but also for the communities they strive to serve. On the next generation of champions for health equity, Richins shared his outlook; “I believe younger generation(s) are more actionable in their ‘wokeness’ than a lot of other generations… the younger that we work toward putting in places, policies and systems to really support marginalized and disenfranchised communities, the better.”
Conclusion
Mentorship and advocacy for emerging health equity champions is critical toward the advancement of global racial equity, and The Public Health Millennial is an example of an organization that uses creative, digital spaces to center the voices of young professionals of diverse backgrounds that are working toward making social justice a reality for all people. We at GroundBreakers are thankful for the opportunity to recognize the The Public Health Millennial team for their amazing work in “breaking the ground” toward improved health resources for marginalized people!
Check out The Public Health Millennial online!
https://thephmillennial.com/
