I enjoyed filming a gathering of young people in Jamaica Plain to talk about what they can do to help close the gap in health outcomes between different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The meeting was organized by Jamaica Plain Youth Health Equity Collaborative, a dynamic grassroots group run out of the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center.
The Collaborative is working on several fronts to address the structural roots of health inequality. They are currently focusing on youth employment - both on the policy level to preserve funding for youth jobs, and in developing a youth-run business. They also published a great report to educate young people in Jamaica Plain about the complex causes of health disparities.
It's been fun meeting several articulate new leaders in JP, and the health center's Manager of Community Health Programs, Abigail Ortiz (pictured above, leading a role play). She knows how to keep a room full of young people engaged and cooperating on ambitious projects for their community's future.
Tom Wolff wrote a nice article in his newsletter about the Youth Collaborative's work, and that of one of their funders, the Center for Health Equity and Social Justice at Boston Public Health Commission (who has hired me to document some of their grantees).