Health Equity and Racial Justice Capacity Enrichment Program

The Health Equity and Racial Justice Capacity Enrichment Program is for individuals and/or groups who express interest in further integrating health equity and racial justice into their work. Individuals, teams within MDH, and community partners may request support. Health Equity coaches, trainers, and speakers work for MDH (across divisions) and are trained on MDH's capacity enrichment approach centered on a strengths-based approach.

MDH offers three types of capacity building: 1) technical assistance (training and consulting), 2) health equity coaching, or 3) one-time presentations. To make a capacity enrichment request, please complete the Health & Racial Equity Capacity Enrichment Request Form.

Goals

The Health Equity and Racial Justice Capacity Enrichment Program’s goals are to: 

1. Strengthen the capacity of MDH staff, community partners, and systems around racial and health equity.
2. Expand the network of equity champions within MDH and in Minnesota.
3. Promote equity-focused actions and solutions.

The program accomplishes these goals by:

• Creating shared learning spaces and strategic conversations around equity.
• Building off the assets of MDH staff and community partners.
• Encouraging buy-in and commitment to advance equity.
• Identifying the root causes of inequities in programs, processes, and policies.
• Coaching MDH staff and community partners on upstream approaches to equitable action.

Types of capacity building offered

Technical Assistance (TA)

• TA takes on a consultant or training approach to achieve specific outcomes and objectives that are actionable toward advancing health equity and racial justice.
• Examples of TA may include: 
  • Review of a grant application with a health equity lens.
  • Provide a series of foundation building trainings for a team or staff.
• TA is usually a one-time request but may last up to four months.

Health equity coaching

• Health equity coaching centers on co-learning and co-creation, with participants guiding the conversation.
• This approach considers that advancing health equity has no straightforward pathways, with no easy solutions.

Speaker requests

In general, speaker requests are one-time events to provide an informational presentation on a health equity or racial justice related topic including:

• Community Engagement
• Disability Equity
• Health Equity 101
• Health Equity 102
• LGBTQ+ Equity
• Racial Equity
• Systems Change