By Jonathan Morales

2021年2月25日

一项新的研究表明，建立在社区驱动的解决方案、基层领导和有针对性的资源基础上的运动，如何改善了黑人儿童的健康和生活，抵制了长期存在的种族不平等的影响。

这项为期两年的研究考虑了减少黑人儿童可预防死亡的区域努力的有效性，评估了萨克拉门托七个社区的“黑人儿童遗产运动”（BCLC）的影响。 它清楚地说明了决策者和社区必须如何密切合作，以实施系统性变革。

该研究由塞拉健康基金会中心委托进行，旨在进一步了解社区如何解决和改善长期存在的健康方面的种族不平等。

• Read the complete study: “Transformative Justice Community: A Countywide Evaluation of the Black Child Legacy Campaign”

来自博彩平台和加州大学戴维斯分校的研究人员对BCLC进行了仔细评估，以确定这项工作成功的原因，并为全国其他城市提供指导。BCLC被认为从2014年到2018年将萨克拉门托地区的黑人儿童死亡率降低了30%。

“Communities have the answer,” said Vajra Watson, director of 萨克拉门托 State’s Doctorate in Educational Leadership program and a co-author of the report. “Yes, policy matters and, yes, funding matters, but in order to drive solutions, the work has to be done in real life, in real time, with real people.”

沃森强调了消除政策制定者、服务提供者和社区组织者之间的障碍的重要性，这样他们才能更紧密地合作。 She also pointed to how the report stressed that “inequities don’t happen in isolation” and called attention to the report’s historical analysis of the impacted neighborhoods, highlighting how racism has shaped disparate health outcomes.

Watson and co-authors Lawrence "Torry" Winn and Maisha T. Winn, of the Transformative Justice in Education Center at UC Davis, said they hope the report can inform the campaign’s future activities and offer guidance and best practices to other cities looking to correct inequities through systemic change.

2015年，在一份报告显示萨克拉门托县黑人儿童的死亡率是其他种族儿童的两倍之后，BCLC成立了。 该报告确定了四个主要原因：与婴儿睡眠有关的死亡、围产期疾病、虐待和忽视儿童以及第三方谋杀。

It also focused on seven neighborhoods with disproportionate rates of Black child deaths – Arden-Arcade, Del Paso Heights, Fruitridge/Stockton Boulevard, Meadowview, North Highlands/Foothill Farms, Oak Park, and Valley Hi – all of which were historically subject to redlining and other forms of systemic racism that continue to have repercussions.

BCLC从萨克拉门托县、萨克拉门托市和First 5 California以及其他来源获得资金。 它是由塞拉健康基金会的中心管理的。

“Communities have the answer. Yes, policy matters and, yes, funding matters, but in order to drive solutions, the work has to be done in real life, in real time, with real people.” - Vajra Watson

这项运动成功地减少了死亡人数，但政策制定者想更好地了解其中的原因。 随后，他们联系了沃森、托里·温和麦莎·温，对定性研究结果进行了更详细的评估。

“A lot of times people get very fixated on outcomes, which are really important because they are incredible data points,” Watson said. “But if we don’t have an in-depth understanding of the process, we're not giving people a roadmap to reach those similar goals.”

研究人员发现，几乎在每一个转折点上，当政策制定者参与进来，与那些已经在社区开展工作的人合作并向他们学习时，这项运动最有效。

“It was a matter of lifting up the people who had been doing the work for generations, and then increasing their capacity to execute the solutions,” Watson said.

例如，沃森解释说，萨克拉门托县监事菲尔·塞尔纳（Phil Serna）一直是一个重要的合作伙伴，他利用自己的影响力设立了委员会来研究这个问题并获得资金。 然而，出生在德尔帕索高地的杰基·罗斯（Jackie Rose）也是梅多维尤社区的长期组织者。 在中心和其他政府机构的支持下，罗斯和其他BCLC领导人与社会服务工作者，如缓刑或儿童保护服务人员建立了重要的伙伴关系。 These connections were made with the help of “cultural brokers,” who build awareness and understanding of the needs of diverse communities and create bridges of trust between systems, Watson said.

“Families, for very good reasons, are distrusting of many institutions,” Watson said. “You need that community liaison, that community leadership to say, ‘This is a viable solution, and this is how we can work together to improve life outcomes.

“Black community leaders already had the reputation, but then the BCLC created further infrastructure around the work in order to make a larger impact with families,” she said.

沃森说，第三个关键因素是大学学者的参与，尤其是博彩平台和加州大学戴维斯分校的学者。 “If we’re doing our work really well, we’re able to help be translators and bridge builders,” Watson said. “This is not research merely for the production of knowledge. 这是为社会变革服务的研究。 We’re not here to just study the Black Child Legacy Campaign, but to use scholarship to anchor ourselves – locally.”

托里·温说，这项研究清楚地表明了合作的重要性。

他说：“这项评估让我们深入了解社区领袖和组织如何与政府和慈善机构合作创造变革的有效策略。” “There were many challenges to overcome; 然而，对更美好未来的希望是推动力。” 

Maisha Winn called BCLC’s efforts a “progressive forward-thinking approach.”

“The campaign is multi-layered, deep rooted, and a collaboration of elders, youth, educators, coaches, clergy, police, elected officials, and nonprofit leads,” she said.

这项研究已经得到了国家的关注。 Mark R. Warren, University of Massachusetts professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs, called it “careful and compelling” and said it can “lift up the critical lessons of the (BCLC) and illuminate a path forward for systemic change for communities in other cities riven by deep-seated anti-Black racism.”

Leaders of both university recognized the study’s importance.

萨克拉门托 State President Robert S. Nelsen said the study shows the importance of BCLC’s work, calling it “vital to changing the systems that deny Black families access to education, equality, and opportunity.”

“It is of the utmost importance that 萨克拉门托 State, as an anchor university, remains committed to racial justice efforts to support and protect Black children.”

UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said within the study the voices and stories of children and their families “emerge with a raw and deeply moving honesty, vulnerability and courage.”

“Their experiences serve as a powerful inspiration for all of us to commit boldly to continuing the BCLC’s transformative work of building and sustaining a legacy of health, pride and love in Black families and communities.”