DR. KANIKA TOMALIN | President and CEO of the Basis for a Wholesome St. Petersburg
Whereas we honor and rejoice Black historical past year-round, February is all the time a particular time – and this February was a busy one. We helped plan, fund, and host the premiere screening of the documentary Razed, which chronicles the displacement of 800 residents of St. Petersburg’s historic Gasoline Plant neighborhood. We shared findings of our current South St. Pete Well being Fairness Profile, vital knowledge that helps us higher perceive the state of well being fairness in our group. And, in partnership with Orlando Well being Bayfront Hospital, we launched a brand new capacity-building grant alternative that may assist our not-for-profit companions broaden their attain and influence.
Folks and their tales are on the heart of our shared work to construct a stronger, more healthy, extra equitable metropolis. All we find out about ourselves and one another… all that has occurred prior to now and all that shapes our current informs the longer term well being of our group, so all of it issues. As I usually say, we’re our tales.
Tales permeate our Well being Fairness Profile. The realities of our neighbors in our prioritized ZIP codes of 33711, 33712, and 33705 come to life by the compilation of interviews, focus teams and quantitative findings that inform a narrative of a powerful sense of group that is still tormented by stark and unacceptable geographic and racial disparities.
By the report, which presents a uncommon hyper-local have a look at well being and well-being in South St. Petersburg, we hear instantly from residents about group belongings resembling engaged and dedicated community-driven teams who work to enhance life and alternatives. We additionally hear about our neighbors’ wishes for better-paying jobs, extra inexpensive housing and simpler entry to high-quality and culturally related medical care. Every of the seven focus teams performed additionally mentioned the necessity for clear and secure neighborhoods, a discovering highlighted within the report’s quantitative evaluation, as properly.
The report’s quantitative evaluation paints a stark image of geographic and racial disparity. It makes use of census tract knowledge to check the three ZIP codes of the South St. Petersburg Group Redevelopment Space (CRA) to the remainder of Pinellas County. The report exhibits that South St. Pete CRA residents are greater than 3.5 occasions as prone to die from gun violence than residents of Pinellas County as a complete, and practically eight occasions as prone to die from murder. They’re additionally greater than twice as prone to die from persistent sicknesses like diabetes and liver illness, and practically twice as prone to die from coronary heart illness. These variations grow to be much more pronounced after we concentrate on areas with the best concentrations of Black residents.
We measure and spotlight these gaps and disparities in order that we will collectively change them – as a result of they will and should be modified.
Ida B. Wells taught us that “The best way to proper wrongs is to show the sunshine of fact upon them.” That may be a vital function of the work of the Basis – we work every single day to proper wrongs in a method that permits all individuals to thrive. Our focus is on well being and the circumstances and environments that form our well being as a result of in our group we nonetheless expertise completely different outcomes in accordance with our racial demographics. That is unacceptable. There is no such thing as a simply trigger for this. Nothing about it’s honest or proper. And, every thing about it may be modified. So, collectively, with our ecosystem of companions, that’s what we work to do.
The research of Black historical past can’t be restricted to February alone, neither is it the area of many years and centuries previous. It unfolds round us, every single day. What we do to protect, honor, measure, and uplift it issues. Thanks to all who contributed to our South St. Pete Well being Fairness Profile. And thanks to the complete ecosystem of devoted residents and organizations working to advance our group’s well being and fairness every day.
Dr. Kanika Tomalin is the President and Chief Govt Officer of the Basis for a Wholesome St. Petersburg. On this position, she leads, directs, and integrates all facets of the Basis’s inner and exterior actions and initiatives. Working intently with the Basis crew, Dr. Tomalin creates and executes the Basis’s strategic plan—overseeing grantmaking, strategic initiatives, and the Heart for Well being Fairness. She guides the group as a steward of the group’s sources, persistently reporting again to the group and guaranteeing choices and plans of motion are mission-aligned and primarily based in fairness.
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