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Welcome to healthjustice.us! Here are resources to support organizing and policy advocacy to advance health justice in your community. There's a health justice report card to help you track data and see where your county stands on a variety of health justice indicators, a tool kit to support policy advocacy and organizing, and model policies to help you move from data to action to community change. There are even more resources at www.thepraxisproject.org. What is health justice anyway? A community's health is as much the result of institutional policies and practice as it is personal choice. Which communities have fresh, nutritious food? Where do governments allow dumping? Who is more often targeted by advertisers with unhealthy products? Which communities have state-of-the-art medical facilities? Which ones don't? All of these factors (or social determinants) are symptoms of the bias and privilege that shape virtually every aspect of our lives. It is no secret that across nearly every indicator of health status, poor people and people of color are more likely to be sick, injured, or die prematurely. Great brochures and good advice are not enough. It will take organizing from the ground up; social change that transforms the current systems of neglect, bias, and privilege into systems - policies, practices, institutions - that truly support health communities for all. That's health justice. Ready to get started? Begin with the Report Card and follow the directions to learn your county's grade. Once you see how you're doing across multiple indicators, you'll likely to be fired up to exercise your political will alongside others in your community. The Toolkit is designed to help groups in a process from beginning to end (or anywhere in between) to win policy changes in order to build a healthier community. To get a picture of what's possible, or encouragement along the way, browse our database of Model Policies. Want to know more about social determinants and health?
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