A Vision of Racial and Health Equity for All Californians
At the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), our mission is to work together with counties, cities, and communities, as well as our public, private, faith, and educational partners to make California a healthy, vibrant, inclusive place to live, play, work, and learn. CalHHS envisions a Healthy California for all where equity is not just a word or concept but the core value.
CalHHS is a leader in the fight for equity and strives to create programs that address persistent and systemic inequities. The disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic further underscore these inequities driven by historical, deep-seated structural factors of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination.
Our recently updated Guiding Principles and North Star “envision a Healthy California for All where every individual belongs to a strong and thriving community…Where we constantly pursue social and racial justice by not only lifting all boats but especially those boats that need to be lifted more…Where we prioritize prevention and the upstream factors that impact an individual’s health and well-being…Where we see the whole person and where programs and services address the social, cultural and linguistic needs of the individuals they serve”.
“Dr. Ghaly believes in the whole person, whole community approach by integrating services so they are equity-anchored and person-centered for ALL, but especially the most underserved Californians.”
Policy, Planning, and Capacity Building Efforts in Leadership, Equity, and Innovation
The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) is the State host of the Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity (CCORE), a racial equity capacity building program for California State employees, administered by the Public Health Institute’s (PHI) Health in All Policies Initiative. The Department of Public Health within CalHHS was a key leader in bringing CCORE to California State Government after its early participation in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) in 2016. Departments in CalHHS that have participated in previous CCORE cohorts include: Public Health (2018, 2019), Social Services (2018, 2019), Community Services and Development (2018), and Aging (2020–2021).
This was followed by the Strategic Growth Council’s unanimous adoption of its nationally recognized Racial Equity Resolution in August of 2019, a step forward which was a direct outcome of State participation in CCORE. This was followed by an amendment to the same resolution in November 2021, which directed the creation of a Racial Equity Resource Hub demonstrating progress and resources generated by this effort.
Additional CHHS Departmental commitments and actions on equity include much more.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is under the leadership of Director and State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón, MD, MPH, who brings a decade of local experience building racial equity governmental infrastructure to implement a Racial Equity Action Plan. He has named Healing, Equity and Antiracism, and Trauma Responsiveness as one of three top priorities which will be implemented through the methodologies of Lean and Results-Based Accountability and build on DPH’s 2017–2021 Racial Health Equity Initiative. CDPH is also home to the Office of Health Equity (OHE) whose mission is to advance health and mental health equity in California including improving the health and well-being of the State’s diverse racial/ethnic populations. OHE works with community-based organizations and local governmental agencies to ensure that community perspectives and input help to shape a health equity lens in policies and strategic plans, recommendations, and implementation activities. OHE has championed racial equity in the COVID-19 response and invested in the new Advancing Community Equity (ACE) branch which is home to a growing Equity in All Policies Section that will support nine Department-wide Equity Liaisons.
The California Department of Social Services Office of Equity emphasizes key equity areas with an emphasis on racial equity, including disparities and disproportionalities for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, limited English proficient (LEP), and immigrant communities.
The California Department of Developmental Services (CDDS) appointed an Assistant Deputy Director of Service Access and Equity in March of 2020 and appointed a Chief Equity Officer in March 2022 to lead a new Service Access and Equity Division. At DDS, Service Access and Equity seeks to improve access to services for consumers and families, and DDS fosters leadership and policy development that is culturally and linguistically responsive to the beliefs, values and choices of the diverse people of California.
Since 2019 the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) appointed an Inclusion and Climate Advisor to the Director to guide DOR statewide efforts in developing cultural competencies for DOR employees. Additional efforts include creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. DOR is developing strategies and objectives to increase the delivery of services to job seekers with disabilities from underserved communities throughout the state by recommending best practices to removing barriers.
The California Department of Aging (CDA) seeks to Advance a California for ALL Ages through the Master Plan for Aging. CDA is the lead Department at CalHHS for many of the initiatives found in Goal 3 of the Master Plan for Aging: Inclusion and Equity, Not Isolation. The Master Plan for Aging Equity Workgroup developed the Equity Tool and Glossary.
Recent Investments in Advancing Race and Health Equity
CalHHS oversees departments and offices that support California’s most vulnerable, including the health and human services that support the well-being of the State’s black, indigenous, and other communities of color.
Some organizational and budget investments of the Agency’s role in advancing racial equity include:
- The recently established Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR) which supports the transition of justice-involved youth being served in local communities. The OYCR will promote a youth continuum of services that are trauma-responsive and culturally informed, using public health approaches that support positive youth development, build the capacity of community-based approaches, and reduce the justice involvement of youth. The OYCR will improve youth and public safety outcomes by reducing the transfer of youth into the adult criminal justice system, reducing racial and ethnic disparities, and increasing community-based responses and interventions.
- Proposed California State Budget investments for 2022–2023: Expansion Of Medi-Cal To All Income-Eligible Californians. Over the last decade, the Medi-Cal program has significantly expanded and changed, due in large part to the implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and California’s expansions of Medi-Cal coverage to children and young adults. Older adults aged 50 and over will be eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal no sooner than May 1, 2022, regardless of immigration status. The Budget builds on those expansions and includes $819.3 million ($613.5 million General Fund) in 2023–24 and $2.7 billion ($2.2 billion General Fund) annually at full implementation, inclusive of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) costs, to expand full-scope eligibility to all income-eligible adults aged 26 through 49 regardless of immigration status. Beginning no sooner than January 1, 2024, Medi-Cal will be available to all income-eligible Californians.
- Proposed California State Budget investments for 2022–2023: Medi-Cal Provider Equity Payments. During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, there has been a significant decline in the utilization of preventive care and routine care for chronic conditions. In addition, the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color and other disadvantaged Californians underscore the existing disparities in our health care system. To promote patient-centered models of care, the Budget includes one-time $400 million ($200 million General Fund) for provider payments focused on advancing equity and improving quality in children’s preventive, maternity, and integrated behavioral health care.
- Proposed California State Budget investments for 2022–2023: Expanding Home Visiting Services. Voluntary home visiting services for children aged 0–3 provide a range of supportive services to pregnant and newly parenting families in California. These services improve health outcomes in key areas ranging from low-birth weight and infant mortality to immunizations and language development. The Budget provides $50 million in ongoing General Fund for the Department of Public Health (CDPH) to expand the California Home Visiting Program and the California Black Infant Health Program, serving approximately 6,000 additional families over five years on top of 3,700 currently served by the Home Visiting Program and 1,650 served by the Black Infant Health Program.
Increasing Representation in Leadership and Agency Collaboration
CalHHS is operationalizing its health, racial, and social equity agenda with strategic leadership and intra-agency coordination including:
- The establishment of an internal Agency-level Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Subcommittee as part of the internal CalHHS Agency’s Inter-Departmental Advisory Council. The purpose of the internal JEDI subcommittee is to support efforts to strengthen internal agency culture, the experiences of staff, and address inequities in CalHHS programs that serve Californians. It will leverage, and accelerate existing state, Agency, department, and program efforts to address systemic injustice, racism, and disparities, advance racial and social equity, and create a community of practice.
- Issued a directive to all CalHHS Departments to appoint one senior leader within their organization to serve as the Equity Officer. This individual will be responsible for furthering the CalHHS equity agenda within each department.
- The establishment of a CalHHS Agency Equity Officer position whose sole responsibility will be to work across departments to organize, implement, and galvanize an aggressive equity agenda centered around our goals of addressing the inequities in our programs and services.
The JEDI Subcommittee is co-chaired by Marcela Ruiz, JD, and Rohan Radhakrishna, MD. Marcela is the Director of the Office of Equity at the Department of Social Services and Rohan is the Director of the Office of Health Equity and Tribal Liaison at the Department of Public Health.
The leadership and coordination will leverage key investments that center racial equity including, but not limited to:
• $20.3 million to implement an Agency-wide language access policy with resources to expand our ability to translate and adapt documents.
• $3.2 million to develop an equity dashboard across major health and human services programs to identify data gaps by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
• $5 million to develop a training program for staff within CalHHS departments and offices to identify and eliminate barriers to a more inclusive, just society, including systemic racism.
These are just some of the investments and efforts that CalHHS has made and continues to implement to advance equity across the agency. CalHHS is a proud member of the Strategic Growth Council in building a California for All.
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In partnership,
The California Health and Human Services Agency & the California Strategic Growth Council
Visit the Racial Equity Resource Hub for more information and resources.
