November 16, 2017

Changing the ‘tough on crime’ narrative

| By Jonathan Heller | Here’s our vision for how a U.S. Attorney General’s op ed could lift up a transformational narrative on crime and justice.  Instead, every day, we are bombarded with a particular ‘tough on crime’ narrative: our leaders and the media telling us that crime is rising and […]
November 3, 2017

Take Action! #TaxesAreGood for Health

Every day in our country, communities accomplish remarkable things using the resources we maintain together. Our roads, our clean air, our public schools, our parks, and our health departments are just a small part of the collective investment — through our taxes — that keeps everyone moving forward. Investments in public goods provide benefits […]
October 26, 2017

I left whole, I returned in pieces

| By Pamela Winn, Introduction by Kim Gilhuly | We are kicking off a semi-regular series to place the human impact stories of our research and advocacy work front and center. In the Human Impact Stories Series (HISS!), we’ll thread together the narratives of folks’ experiences with the institutional practices […]
August 21, 2017

Finding inspiration at Netroots Nation

| By Ana Tellez | I was lucky enough to attend Netroots Nation earlier this month, representing Human Impact Partners at the largest annual gathering of the progressive movement in the US. The conference was headlined by big names like civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and former Vice President […]
August 16, 2017

Let’s Stand with Charlottesville

We condemn the actions of the White supremacists and neo-nazis who gathered and violently attacked peaceful protesters in the name of racism. White supremacy, terrorism, and racial violence contradict our collective vision of a safe and healthy society.
June 26, 2017

Notes from the Field: Should We Lock Up Parents of Young Children?

| By Kim Gilhuly | It was 8:00 pm, but people stayed. It was 8:00 pm last Monday night, at the end of a long day hearing 20 bills in Massachusetts Legislature. But people stayed. Teens skipped their normal Monday afternoon and night to speak powerfully — and clearly reached legislators’ ears — about having […]
June 19, 2017

Past and Present Racial Wealth Imbalances Don’t Have to Tell Our Future

| By Holly Avey | Earlier this year, I published a post talking about the wealth inequities of proposed federal policies. (Remember: wealth = assets minus debts). Beyond talking about how these changes would heap more money on the rich while starving the poor, we also need to discuss the huge […]
June 2, 2017

Activating Public Health as the Beachhead to Advance Equity in Government

|By Jonathan Heller | Last week, I was in Los Angeles for the Advancing Health Equity Awards, and I co-facilitated the workshop that followed the ceremony: Using Inside/Outside Strategies to Advance Health Equity in Partnership with Social Justice Movements. It was incredibly inspiring to see what public health departments around the state are […]
April 24, 2017

Highlighting the Humans of HIP: Sara

| By Gus Alexander | As a research assistant here at HIP, it was required that I believe research can affect positive change. And I do. I believe that research has a role to play for social justice. Just like the Black Panther Party used research to deconstruct biomedical claims […]
April 3, 2017

Keep Your Eyes on the Money: The Wealth Inequities of Current Policy Changes

| By Holly Avey | Let’s talk about wealth inequities. The current presidential administration, including the vice president, the chief of staff, and the emerging cabinet, have more wealth than one-third of Americans combined. Concentrated wealth creates concentrated power. And indications suggest that this particular group of very wealthy individuals may be more […]
March 21, 2017

Trump’s toxic budget and fighting for the people’s health

| By Nancy Krieger, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health | Follow the money. This old adage could not be more true now, as applied to the Trump Administration’s budget, released on March 16, 2017.1 This cruel and greedy document (in so many ways) 2–6 savages everything that we in public health and so many others know is necessary for people, […]
February 6, 2017

Tell me what you’re for, not what you’re against

| By Sara Satinsky | “What can I do?” It’s the question we at Human Impact Partners are asking ourselves, each other, and pretty much anyone who will discuss it — and one that we hear swirling in the streets during these post-inauguration days. A powerhouse panel took on this question at […]
February 6, 2017

Public Health Awakened: A movement whose time is now

Donald Trump made many promises on the campaign trail, many of which were unconscionable to those working to advance health, equity, and justice. Those promises and the harmful and hateful rhetoric of the campaign are well embodied in Trump’s 100 Days Plan — a set of proposals articulating the Administration’s agenda and […]
February 1, 2017

Revocations in Wisconsin: Update on Report Release

| By Sara Satinsky | Last month, we were truly honored to join partners WISDOM and EX-Prisoners Organizing in person to release the new report: Excessive Revocations in Wisconsin: The Health Impacts of Locking People Up without a New Conviction. Despite frigid temperatures in Wisconsin, people came out. Across the state […]
January 27, 2017

Immigrant rights are under attack, what public health should do to fight back

| By Jonathan Heller | President Trump’s 100 day plan includes deporting 2 million undocumented residents from the US. The plan represents a massive increase in scale and speed of deportations. Trump says he will focus on deporting undocumented people with criminal records. With fewer of them in the US now as […]
November 28, 2016

How Public Health Can Show Up (for Police Reform)

| By Sara Satinsky | A mandate of public health is to improve health equity, promote public safety, advance prevention, and strive for social justice. With this in mind, as I process the results of the election and the uncharted, unprecedented future there is a whisper of a question that’s […]
November 11, 2016

Heartbroken but determined

There’s no way around it: we are heartbroken. The election of misogyny, White supremacy, and LGBTQ hate into the White House in 2016 is a blow to our hearts, our minds, and our souls. We are in deep pain for the many who already live in trepidation of their rights, […]
October 27, 2016

Gratitude for Being Invited into a New Community

| By Kim Gilhuly | In mid-September, I attended A Women’s Gathering on Criminalization and Community Health Inequities. The gathering was different in many ways, but one aspect of it really stood out: We were being invited into a community that most of us knew very little about, a community of women […]
October 25, 2016

Family Caregiving—A Public Health Crisis

| By Kim Gilhuly | This last year was the hardest one of my life. And I’m writing a blog about it because my personal experience is a public health issue. In the midst of taking vacation time off to help my 80-year old mom move into a retirement community, […]
September 8, 2016

Research and the Arts: Combining Efforts for Policy Change

| By Holly Avey | Several months ago I attended an entertainment event called The Body Political. The show was described by the organizers in the following way: The Body Political is a subversive artistic space created to explore personal stories about our bodies told through performance art. This show […]
August 19, 2016

How “ban-the-box” policies expose deeper problems with racism in hiring

| By Logan Harris | “Ban-the-box” policies are designed to eliminate some of the barriers that people leaving prison face when seeking jobs. These policies disallow employers from asking people about their criminal records during the initial phase of a job application, removing the “box” that an applicant checks to […]
June 28, 2016

A Framework Connecting Criminal Justice and Public Health

UPDATE: Our Health Instead of Punishment Program has undergone some exciting updates since we published this blog post. We invite you to learn about our latest work over here. | By Jonathan Heller | HIP has been doing a lot of research about how criminal justice policies and practices affect health. […]
June 23, 2016

Addressing Race & Power to Advance Health Equity: An Infographic

| By Dawn Haney | As HIP works with more community partners and public health departments to advance health equity, we’re looking for new ways to talk with folks about what we mean by equity. This Equity Infographic contains user-friendly, visual content to share with organizations or individuals who may be less […]
April 28, 2016

Dismantling the Bars on the Birdcage

| By Sara Satinsky | The recently released Coming of Age in the Other America by Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist, and Kathryn Edin asks the question: why do some kids in the poorest neighborhoods thrive and meet their potential despite overwhelming odds when others don’t? As summarized in an excellently […]
March 21, 2016

Public Health Advocates – Stop Waiting for Evidence about Gun Control!

| By Kim Gilhuly | In public health, especially government-run public health departments, we often debate whether there is “enough” evidence, or whether the evidence is “robust” enough, to justify speaking out and becoming an advocate on a particular issue. A bill in the California legislature right now would fund […]