Equity and Public Health in Trenton and Philadelphia

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Learning Outcomes

  • Apply cultural competency and sensitivity when working in communities of color — particularly employing the empathy needed to truly listen and learn nuances of minority neighborhoods.
  • Assess how social determinants of health in high-poverty neighborhoods — exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic toll — negatively impact daily life.
  • Compare two neighborhoods in transition and the lessons they and their respective medical institution anchors can learn from each other.

Course Details

Consider two predominantly Black communities — one in Trenton, one in Philadelphia — that are at a crossroads of poverty and change. Both partnered with local medical institutions (Capital Health and Jefferson Health, respectively) to address public health crises while undergoing much-needed neighborhood planning.

Presenters share a story of urban poverty and inequity and how they are rewriting that narrative with healing and recovery. Learn how to engage non-conventional professionals to address planning issues; hospital administrators and frontline workers bring unique perspectives to the planning process that yield unorthodox outcomes.

The Capital Health/Trenton Health team describes how they are leveraging recent federal, place-based planning grants to invest in the North Trenton neighborhood. The five-year, $10 million Trenton Neighborhood Initiative is committed to improving housing, employment, and social and digital outcomes. Jefferson Health’s COVID-19 Mobile Unit offers targeted, human-centered care to vulnerable Philadelphia communities, based on a compact of trust among healthcare delivery experts, sponsors, and community partners.