In Solidarity: Connecting Power, Place and Health

In the series’ final episode, Host Ericka Burroughs-Girardi talks with a young changemaker who offers insights on motivating other young people to get involved. Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina freshman Olivia Cody shares her experience encouraging fellow students to vote, volunteer and make a difference in their communities. She also discusses the obstacles they face.

In this second episode of our three-part series, we’re tackling civic education and young people’s involvement in civic life: where we’re at as a country, what we can do to improve it and how it’s linked to our overall health. Host Beth Silver interviews prolific author Eric Liu, a self-described civic evangelist and CEO of Citizen University, an organization that promotes “powerful citizenship and civic education.” Silver and Liu discuss power, obligation and responsibility in a democracy.

Students’ social studies scores have plummeted, due in part to disinvestment in civic education. Yet, studies show a clear connection between the civics foundation laid in schools and participation in our democracy into adulthood. And creating strong civic health equals healthier communities overall. Host Ericka Burroughs-Girardi kicks off the series with civic education expert Dr. Kelly Siegel-Stechler, a Tufts University senior researcher at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Siegel-Stechler discusses why improving democracy and our health requires shifting mindsets and investing in civic education.

In Solidarity is back for a new series on the importance of supporting young people in strengthening our democracy and how building this foundation impacts everyone’s health. We’re bringing you three exciting conversations with civic education expert Dr. Kelly Siegel-Stechler, prolific author and Citizen University CEO Eric Liu, and a young community advocate and Winston-Salem State University freshman, Olivia Cody.

When people closest to problems have the power to influence solutions, those solutions often benefit everyone. In our final episode of this series on civic health, hosts Beth Silver and Ericka Burroughs-Girardi explore strategies to ensure everyone has a voice and the opportunity for collective change. They are joined by Solange Gould, the co-director of Human Impact Partners, who discusses the role narratives play in building power and improving civic health. Dr. Erika Blacksher, the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics and a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, concludes our series by defining democratic deliberation and how it’s related to health equity.

Public health and health care systems can play an important role in improving civic health. In the third episode of this series, hosts Beth Silver and Ericka Burroughs-Girardi dive into examples of public health and health care organizations’ efforts to increase civic participation. They are joined by Jeanne Ayers, the executive director of Healthy Democracy Healthy People, who discusses both challenges and victories to increase voter registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aliya Bhatia, executive director of Vot-ER, shares how bringing voter registration into emergency rooms, hospitals and community health centers has moved health beyond the exam room.

There’s a growing body of evidence that shows that people living in areas with structural barriers, such as laws that restrict voter eligibility, registration and opportunities to participate, have lower voter turnout and shorter life expectancy. In our second episode, hosts Beth Silver Ericka Burroughs-Girardi are joined by Daniel Dawes, executive director of the Institute of Global Health Equity at Meharry Medical College, and the founder of the political determinants of health framework. Dawes discusses how the political determinants have shaped communities’ abilities to define and address public problems. Dr. Peniel Joseph, an author, professor and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at The University of Texas at Austin, also joins the conversation to provide examples of how tools of democracy — historical and present — have shaped where we are today.

How do the opportunities to vote, have a say in our futures and connect in our communities impact our health? Hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver explore civic health and its connection to everyone’s health. We kick off the series with Julia Kaufman, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, who explains why civic infrastructure is important and how it’s tied to health equity. We’re also joined by Dawn Hunter of the Network for Public Health Law and the lead author of the Health & Democracy Index, who explains the link between restrictive voting policies and poorer health outcomes.

In Solidarity is back for a brand-new series on civic health.

Type “the gender pay gap” into any search engine and one of the first results that pops up will be: “The gender pay gap myth.” In the final episode of this miniseries, hosts Beth Silver and Ericka Burroughs-Girardi bust myths and break down the toxic narratives around the gender pay gap. They are joined by Dr. Jonathan Heller, a senior fellow at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, who talks about how toxic narratives maintain systems and policies that keep women undervalued and underpaid. Dr. Jessamyn Schaller, an economics professor and co-author of The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap, concludes our series by making the connections between the pay gap and women’s health.

The gender pay gap is a complex issue and closing it will require multiple solutions. In our second of three episodes on the topic, hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver are joined by Dr. Jessica Milli, an economist and the founder of the consulting firm Research 2 Impact. Dr. Milli talks about how the gender pay gap harms our health, entire communities and the economy. Our colleague Kiersten Frobom, a senior analyst on our evidence and policy analysis team, also joins the conversation to discuss the strategies that communities and organizations are using to close the gender pay gap.

Hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver investigate the gender pay gap and answer important questions about how we got here and how it affects our health. On average, women in this country make little more than 80 cents for every dollar white men make. The pay gap is much wider for women of color. We kick off the series with our colleague, Dr. Elizabeth Blomberg, who explains the data behind the gender pay gap. We’re also joined by Dr. Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, who sets the stage on the history of women’s wages and how we can close the gap.

The Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative reimagines economic realities in communities of color through community wealth building strategies that leverage ideas, people and capital. On the final episode of our six-part mini-series on the racial wealth divide, we talk about how Atlanta’s tackling the issue with the executive director of the wealth building initiative, Latresa McLawhorn Ryan.

Researchers are starting to understand ways to close the racial wealth gap. In this episode, we explore several evidence-based solutions to support racial wealth building. The strategies are a part of a curated list from What Works for Health and are rated for their effectiveness on closing disparities, or the differences between groups. We’re joined by our colleague, Michael Stevenson, the team leader for Evidence and Policy Analysis at County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, to discuss a range of strategies his team has studied and rated.

In this episode, we explore reparations as a possible solution to bridging the racial wealth divide. We're joined by Dr. Andre Perry, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution and a scholar-in-residence at American University. Perry has authored the book, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities and co-authored a Brookings policy brief: “Why we need reparations for Black Americans.” Perry argues that reparations are not only the solution, but they’re also the morally right thing to do.

The 20th century is full of deliberate acts to restrict Black families from building wealth in this country. In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Dalton Conley, a Princeton University professor and author of Being Black, Living in the Red. Conley traces the massive wealth divide to the enslavement of human beings and follows it through Reconstruction, the New Deal, redlining, the G.I. Bill, and beyond. Conley suggests a race-neutral solution may be the most effective way to close the wealth divide.

It started with the enslavement of human beings and persists today. The racial wealth divide is among the most consequential factors in the inequitable way people experience life – and death – in this country. In this episode, we welcome our colleague, Dr. Christine Muganda, a scientist with County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, to shed light on what the research says about wealth inequality. Some staggering statistics: Black families in this country have just one-tenth of the wealth of white families. Racial differences are far more pronounced in wealth than in income. Ultimately, the differences in wealth and the ability to build it, can impact health and well-being for generations.

The idea of collective action for the common good has slowly given way in this country to private and for-profit … by design. If we’re going to improve health and health equity for everyone, we have to understand the shift away from the things once considered sacred public goods (i.e., public schools, transportation, infrastructure, and investment in all communities). In this episode, we talk with author Donald Cohen, who recently published The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back, to find out how we got here and how we can return to a mindset of social solidarity.

Welcome to the launch of In Solidarity: Connecting Power, Place and Health. In this debut episode, hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver introduce themselves and the theme for the podcast, social solidarity. Burroughs-Girardi and Silver explore how our lives and fates are interconnected, whether obvious or not. And they discuss how the two of them discovered a connection that shaped their lives before they were even born.

Join us this April, as we introduce In Solidarity: Connecting Power, Place and Health. This new podcast from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute will explore how we’re deeply connected to one another in ways we are often not even aware. On In Solidarity, hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver explore these connections and what they mean for our wellbeing through conversations with some of the brightest minds and biggest thinkers in public health. They’ll also challenge assumptions about public health and step out of comfort zones to get to a deeper understanding of how our connections, and the actions around them, impact us all. Join us on In Solidarity today!