Action Groups

 
 

The Alliance’s Action Groups are hubs for community experts and academic leaders to advance innovative solutions in health equity. Our inaugural three groups focus on the public health workforce, violence prevention, and the environment & health.

Each group makes impact through:

  • Developing and advocating for policy and structural changes

  • Evolving the way California’s health workforce is trained, developed, and deployed

  • Stimulating and providing resources for academic/community collaborations

Action groups met monthly from March 2023-April 2024, led by democratically selected co-chairs in partnership with Alliance staff.

Special thanks to our Action Group Co-Chairs who work together with Alliance staff to help guide the groups towards advancing our mission of promoting health equity in California.

Co-Chair, Environment & Health

Michael Schmeltz, DrPH, MS, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, California State University, East Bay

Co-Chair, Environment & Health

Quincel Quiambao, Co-Director of Equity in COVID and Health Outcomes at Little Manila Rising

Co-Chair, Violence Prevention

Gabriel Garcia, Policy & Advocacy Director at Youth ALIVE!

  • Advancing policy on the health impacts of climate change and training a health workforce better prepared to tackle those impacts today and in the future.

  • Addressing violence as a public health crisis through policy change and community-academic partnership.

  • Building a more diverse and anti- discriminatory public health workforce through policy and practice changes.

Why Join?

Bringing together academic, community and government experts to collaborate on public health issues is important. Benefits of joining one or more action group include:

  • Getting your work or campaigns in front of new partners / experts

  • Learning about innovative efforts that can be scaled and replicated from other regions and groups

  • Impacting policy advocacy with a strong collective voice

  • Becoming a key Alliance voice / expert in media and with our statewide funders and partners

  • Helping shape the current and future workforce in collaboration with leaders of public health schools and programs and community organizations statewide

  • Community organizations will receive stipends for time spent working with the Alliance

Click the sections above to learn more about our three Action Groups. With questions, please contact the Alliance staff at info-alliance@phi.org.

 

Action Group Members

Our expansive directory demonstrates the importance of and potential for widespread collective impact. We are stronger together!

In this directory you will find details about our Action Group participants, organized by regions outlined in the map above.

For information on general membership, please visit our People page.

Last Updated: August 4, 2023

Environment & Health

The Alliance acts as a catalyst for systemic change by harnessing the collective power of California’s academic public health institutions in partnership with governmental organizations and communities adversely impacted by health inequities. The Alliance believes in advancing policy solutions that protect against the health impacts of climate change and training the public health workforce to tackle those impacts today and in the future.

The Alliance's Environment & Health Action Group is dedicated to addressing the challenges of climate change, particularly those stemming from extractive industries. We focus on communities burdened by the detrimental health impacts resulting from air and ground water pollution and extreme temperatures, which are direct consequences of these industry practices.

The Alliance is invested in advancing with our membership and partners the following actions to promote environmental justice and advocate for systemic change: 

  1. Leverage the expertise of the academic members to provide public health data highlighting the negative health impacts of climate change and various climate adverse policies or proposals to members of the legislature and staff. 

  2. Monitor and support policies at local and state level that use a health equity lens and center communities when addressing oil and gas impacts, air pollution, and extreme heat. 

  3. Uplift lived experiences and voices from communities most impacted to drive more informed decisions with community input on environment and health issues.

The Alliance Environment & Health Action Group is composed of academics and students from California’s Schools and Programs of Public Health, governmental agencies, and community-based organizations working together to support, monitor, guide, and resource the action group’s goals and collective impact. Learn more about our members today.

Special thanks to our Environment & Health Co-Chairs for their leadership, expertise, and dedication to advancing health equity

In 2024, the Alliance Environment & Health Action Group is committed to:

  • Supporting SB 252 which divests California public pension funds from fossil fuels  

  • Supporting the People of the State of California V. Big Oil via an Amicus brief

  • Advocating to uphold contested legislation, SB 1137, which would prohibit new oil and gas wells within 3,200ft of sensitive receptors (including homes, schools, and medical facilities) and require companies to adopt health, safety, and environmental requirements in the 2024 Oil and Gas Well Regulations Referendum. Learn more about Alliance work in this space here.

  • Helping Californians stay safer from extreme heat through the “Heat Ready CA” campaign

  • Continuing to promote and advocate for cleaner air and support policies in 2024 that address respiratory issues 

  • Advancing health equity through open and accessible data via the Healthy Places Index “Extreme Heat” edition

  • Supporting reparative climate change policies that recognize the historical and unjust discriminatory policies that continue to prevent advancements in health equity and racial justice 

  • Leveraging the expertise and knowledge of academic partners around public education/outreach campaigns, to complement community-led efforts, and to counter dis/misinformation campaigns coming from industry-aligned groups

 
 

Violence Prevention

 
 

Workforce

In January 2024, the Alliance convened a meeting with academics in CA who have published on Community Health Workers and/or Promotors. Click here for a brief recap, key take-aways, attendance, and more.