![]() ![]() Seen this way, the most equitable way to define “equity” may be to leave the definition to individual communities. “We see health equity as an outcome whereby you can’t tell the difference in health or life expectancy by race, and also as a process whereby we explicitly value people of color and low-income communities to achieve the outcome we seek,” Redwood explains. Yanique Redwood, CEO of Consumer Health Foundation in Washington, DC, builds on Braveman’s work to envision equity as both an outcome and a process-the latter, an idea borrowed from American Public Health Association President Camara Jones. She writes in one report: “Health equity means social justice in health (i.e., no one is denied the possibility to be healthy for belonging to a group that has historically been economically/socially disadvantaged).” In another report on defining equity in health, she writes: “In operational terms, and for the purposes of measurement, equity in health can be defined as the absence of disparities in health (and in its key social determinants) that are systematically associated with social advantage/disadvantage.” University of California San Francisco’s Paula Braveman has come up with a number of useful definitions related to equity. What factors prevent certain populations from achieving the same level of health as other populations? Questions like these help us get to the root of what equity means. Health-focused foundations have also put the notion of equity under the microscope in recent years, and have begun looking at social determinants of health, such as poverty, food security, homelessness, and education levels. ![]() OTHER WORDS FOR RECENT YEARS FULLCasey Foundation, thinks of it as each of us reaching our full potential. Nonet Sykes, director of race equity and inclusion at the Annie E. It is about each of us getting what we need to survive or succeed-access to opportunity, networks, resources, and supports-based on where we are and where we want to go. So if equity is not diversity, inclusion, or equality, then what is it? It describes something deeper and more complex. In other words, whether you are two feet tall or six, you still get a five-foot ladder to reach a 10-foot platform. We believe equity is also different from “equality,” in which everyone has the same amount of something (food, medicine, opportunity) despite their existing needs or assets. Indeed, foundations that had a clear definition of the term-however unique to that institution-seemed to have more evolved theories of change, frameworks, and plans around equity than foundations that didn’t. Yet having a clear definition of equity (or at least a working definition) would seem paramount to galvanizing people into action around equity-related work. Very few foundations had a clear definition of what equity meant to them internally, and absolutely no one saw any common definition emerging from the field anytime soon. We found that funders not only are confounded by the definition of equity but also highly desirous of one that resonates-both within their organization and for the field as a whole. We recently conducted in-depth conversations about equity with 30 staff members of 15 foundations whose peers named them as leading “equity work” in the field. This is particularly true in philanthropy. “Equity” is one of those terms that everyone seems to understand at some visceral level, but few people share the same definition. ![]()
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