F4 - Nurturing MCH Leadership within the Health Equity Zone Initiative and Rhode Island Communities

There is overwhelming data demonstrating inequities in Black maternal health outcomes. Simultaneously, there is a workforce gap revealing a lack of opportunities for health workers of color to enter the field and rise to leadership. Rhode Island’s Health Equity Zone Initiative (HEZ) created an avenue to nurture Rhode Island’s promising health workers of color to harness their leadership and promote maternal and child health in communities across the state. In this workshop, participants will learn how the HEZ infrastructure creates opportunities to engage and elevate diverse leaders in the maternal and child health field. Participants will practice building out what this infrastructure could look like in their communities and will receive a toolkit that can guide them through replicating the HEZ model.