The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg has reopened the Center for Health Equity. The Center space was originally opened in September 2019, but COVID-19 had other plans. Through volunteers and quick thinking, the Center was turned into a testing site/vaccine location to better serve the community. Now that the Center is reopen, it’s ready to become a place where people in the Pinellas community can meet and discuss racial equity.
Center for Health Equity St. Pete
The reopening represents a return to the Center’s mission of inviting people to learn, create, and connect together. The Center space is a place where people and organizations can discuss and try to solve health disparity, among other aspects of racial equity. Health Disparity is population specific differences in disease, health/mental health outcomes, or access to health care.
Here are some examples:
- African American babies continue to die at a higher rate than white babies throughout Florida and the nation.
- African Americans in Florida are twice as likely to die from strokes compared to White people
- Doctors diagnose white women with breast cancer at a higher rate that other racial groups. But African American and Hispanic women are twice as likely to die from breast cancer.
- And although asthma affects Floridians of all ages, races, and ethnic groups, low-income and minority populations experience substantially higher rates of fatalities, hospital admissions and emergency room visits because of asthma.
“It is our hope that all members of the community with an interest in closing the racial equity gap will see the Center as a hub for community transformation,” Carol Martin Brown, Interim Co-CEO shared.
The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg established the Center as part of their community listening initiative. The Center provides space and resources devoted to social change. A place where people from different backgrounds and communities can imagine solutions, develop strategies, and collaborate in a creative environment.
“The Center is a space for everyone to come together to discuss racial equity freely and safely. Speaking their truth in a supportive setting,” said Marcus Brooks, Executive Director of the Center of Health Equity. “I’m honored to be in a position that allows me to support an environment that promotes conversation, fosters innovation and encourages collaboration to build a healthier, more equitable Pinellas County,”
