The Milwaukee County Office of Equity and the City of Milwaukee Office of African American Affairs invite residents to be part of their Advancing Health Literacy Project Kickoff on Monday, March 27 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Center Street Public Library, located at 2727 W. Fond du Lac Avenue.
The event launches a series of focus groups to understand how those most affected by health and racial inequities in county services envision solutions to service delivery and resource allocation.
Advancing Health Literacy Milwaukee is a project supported by the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
At the kickoff, attendees will learn how they can take part in this grant funded, community-based research by sharing their personal experiences.
Residents that agree to take part in upcoming focus groups addressing various health topics will receive stipends.
To learn more about the project, residents are encouraged to sign up online (countymilwaukee.gov/EN/Office-of-Equity).
“For Milwaukee County to become the healthiest county in Wisconsin, we need to identify and fix the policies and practices, within and across Milwaukee County, that create more harm than good, especially ones that have systemically harmed communities of color,” said Milwaukee County’s Chief Equity Officer and Director of the Milwaukee County Office of Equity Jeff Roman.
“Through the Advancing Health Literacy Kickoff Event and the listening sessions that will follow it, residents can share with us personal stories about how they have been personally impacted by what we call social determinants of health (health care, education, neighborhoods, social connections and economic stability). One’s race and zip code should not dictate or predict one’s quality of life,” said Roman.
“We believe health literacy is an important way to advance health equity. Our communities are essential in guiding projects and getting understandable messages to their loved ones before a crisis occurs,” said City of Milwaukee Office of African American Affairs Director Darryl Davidson.
For questions about the Advancing Healthy Literacy research project, call the Milwaukee County Office of Equity at 414-278-2799 or email us at [email protected].