Recommended citation: Schaffer K, Porter J, Castrucci BC. “Survey: Public Health Employees Eager to Address Racism as A Public Health Crisis,” de Beaumont Foundation. October 2023.
As the providers of essential public health services, the state and local government public health workforce is uniquely positioned to take on the root causes of structural racism in communities nationwide. An analysis of PH WINS 2021 data released in October 2023 provides the first exploration of public health employees’ views on addressing racism as a public health crisis, how much they have been involved in such efforts, and the resources and support they need. Read the research brief.
Key findings:
- Nearly three-quarters (72%) of state and local government public health employees believe that addressing racism as a public health crisis should be part of their work within their agencies. However, only about 4 in 10 (39%) employees reported being highly engaged in such efforts.
- A strong majority of public health agency executives (81%) believe that addressing racism should be part of their work.
- Over half of the government public health workforce (58%) believes they lack adequate funding to address racism as a public health crisis. Nationally, employees reported needing more training, community engagement, and support from agency leadership to address racism in their work.