I am excited to announce the release of the Health Equity Community Feedback Report, developed through the Institute’s Arkansas Health Equity Collaboration. This report highlights feedback gathered from focus groups conducted at the start of the initiative. It reflects the barriers to healthy living that Arkansans have shared with us and offers solutions to address health inequities.
Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller believed in the power of local communities to tackle local challenges, and this report exemplifies that spirit. The Institute encourages organizations, municipalities, and businesses to use the insights from this report to inform their own health equity efforts.
When the Collaboration launched in November 2021, its first event was a dinner that brought together a small group of individuals involved in health equity efforts across the state. Two significant outcomes emerged from this gathering. First, three key areas of concern were identified: Access to Resources, Education, and Community/Economic Development. Second, it became clear that in order to align the Collaboration’s efforts with the needs of Arkansans, more feedback was necessary.
Over 1,500 individual responses were gathered from ten focus groups, providing a wealth of community feedback on the barriers Arkansans face in maintaining healthy lifestyles and the solutions they believe could address these challenges. Two additional areas of focus emerged from the feedback: Cultural Perspectives and Workforce. More than 160 responses highlighted programs and initiatives that participants felt were successful and should be continued or replicated where appropriate. The feedback also included a list of valuable resources and key individuals.
Between July 2022 and August 2024, the Arkansas Health Equity Collaboration used the focus group feedback to guide projects aimed at advancing health equity. Three working groups were formed around key areas: Access to Resources, Education, and Workforce. Each group was tasked with ensuring their projects addressed community/economic development and cultural perspectives.
Unfortunately, the projects did not progress beyond the initial ideation and proposal stages. Increased scrutiny on equity initiatives led several members to step away. Despite this, the Collaboration remains committed to exploring ways to implement its projects. Although the Institute’s involvement concluded in August 2024, I am excited to see the positive impact this group will have on health across Arkansas.
At the final Collaboration meeting in August, I shared a story with participants about Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. This two-part, nearly six-hour play depicts the AIDS crisis. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I should warn you that it is graphic and not always easy to follow. In the play’s final moments, the main character addresses the audience directly with a monologue that ends with the phrase, “The great work begins.” Not “ends,” not “continues,” but “begins.”
I often think of this moment when I’m feeling frustrated or burnt out on a project I’ve been working on for a long time. The line’s absurdity reminds me that while the broader work continues (as with Wicked Problems), we must keep pushing forward. I share this now because many people involved in the Collaboration have been doing this work for years. Their efforts to address health inequities continue to begin, and with this community feedback report, I hope your great work can begin too.
