Whew, it's been a couple weeks, hasn't it, Reader?
Public health is being further threatened than it already was in every direction - halting of foreign aid work; an attempted coup in the form of a spending freeze; an anti-vaccine skeptic nominated to lead the nation's health agency; the list - sadly - goes on.
And the opposition to these threats? It's been weak, slow, and completely insufficient. I don't mean opposition as in people ranting about and posting about and discussing these problems. I mean opposition as in actually taking action.
And why is that? I think there are two key issues here:
1. Actually taking action isn't a central part of enough our organizations’, agencies’, and coalitions’ (not to mention politicians') ethos, frameworks, and plans. Speeches and reports and "awareness raising" and "information sharing" are not ACTION. And here’s the thing - nothing changes until we act.
2. We aren't organized!! And it's not entirely our fault. Our civic infrastructure has been ravaged by everything from land use policy (which prevents the kind of community building we need to foster the trust, conversation, and connection that is foundational to organizing) to restrictions on 501c3 lobbying (while leaving corporate lobbying, political influence, and in a word, corruption, unchecked) to the decimation of local news (which is needed to hold local policymakers and others accountable, foster community action, and more) to the weakening of community, labor, and other organizations that could actually put weight behind advocacy demands and see them to fruition.
So we can call our congresspeople or join protests, but without actual, meaningful, and long-term organizing, we're not going to be nearly effective enough.
I've been giving both the action and organizing points above a lot of thought, even before the chaos of the last couple weeks.
On the action front, PoP Health will be offering a FREE live class for community coalitions sometime this Spring, all about why every community health coalition needs a strong action plan - and the process they need to get there. Community-rooted work is more important than ever right now, and with a strong planning process, your coalitions can deepen your impact and build community power.
On the organizing front, we've got some wheels in motion, but it's early yet - stay tuned for more details, and please reach out if you have ideas to share or want to be involved. Also please drop me a note if you've seen examples of or are involved in taking organized action against the current threats to public health.
As Grant Ennis notes in his book Dark PR, historical protests that led to meaningful policy change did not involve “individuals brandishing banners stating scattered goals” but rather “organized citizens focused on political action” with banners that “listed their demands and the names of the groups they represented.”
And as I heard in a conversation about the role of democracy in population health yesterday, protests and other forms are direction are a component of organizing, but they are the not the entirety of organizing. There's a lot more to organizing effectively - stay tuned for the next Community Threads newsletter for more on that.
Everything that's happening right now is a LOT, Reader, but I still have hope we can find ways to come together to not just act in opposition, but to proactively put forth different - and more compelling - narratives, values, and ways of shaping our policies and our communities.
We can do this,
Vinu
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PPS Want to learn more about PoP Health and how we partner with community coalitions and collaboratives to transform health in communities through policy and systems change? Check out our website!
