Huge congratulations to graduates of our 8th BCLI Cohort! It is an honor to work with such powerful people who deeply believe in community leadership, accountability, and justice.
Leading up to graduation, the BCLI fellows took a deep dive into health equity. Antonia Wilcoxon, longtime community leader and former MN Dept of Human Services staff, shared her experiences about tackling institutional racism in health. Fellows learned so much from her experiences advocating with confidence for equity in a system as huge as the MDHS.
In their second March session, fellows got hands on experience in a simulated Planning Commission discussion. In this simulation, a fictional company was trying to develop a piece of land. While fellows debated the future of this parcel, they raised important issues and values at the intersections of health and environmental equity, economic development, and land use. Each fellow was able to practice using Robert’s Rules of Order, advocate for local hiring clauses, ask for environmental impact studies, and more. It was so engaging that the fellows asked for an additional simulation later this month!
Look out for some photos and stories from graduation next week! Until then, check out this health equity video from the BCLI curriculum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ZKfSNkcJc