Moving Upstream

In this People, Parks, and Power (P3) conversation, Agustin Vega (Project Milpa) reflects on Agricultural Workers’ Day as a movement rooted in collective power, land access, and worker ownership—centering dignity, sovereignty, and community-led change.

In this episode of Moving Upstream, Prevention Institute’s Vibhuti Kacholia and La’Quana Williams explore what it means to expand the boundaries of evidence in public health. They discuss UCEE—Uplifting Contextual and Experiential Evidence—a framework that challenges the field’s overreliance on quantitative data, and La’Quana’s narrative case study series A Mercy in the Telling, which positions me...

Over the past three years, Prevention Institute (PI) has worked to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of public health strategies to advance racial justice and health equity within the field. In this podcast, Director Ruben Cantu talks with PI staff members La’Quana Williams (Associate Program Director) and Alberto Espiricueta (Program Assistant) on their journey to accomplish this goal. T...

How do you reduce the incarceration and detention of youth of color, lift up their strengths, and make a community safer? In this podcast, Dr. Assata Richards speaks personally and passionately about how the Redefining Youth Justice Coalition successfully advocated for the creation of a Youth Justice Community Reinvestment Fund in Harris County, Texas, comprised of $2 million in funds redirected f...

In February, a group of young changemakers partnered with CLASP, the Center for Law and Social Policy, to launch #WhyWeCantWait: A New Deal for Youth (https://www.clasp.org/new-deal-4-youth). A New Deal for Youth calls on leaders in the public and private sectors to support youth-led policy solutions to address the glaring economic and social injustices facing young people today, particularly youn...

On January 20, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as the new president and vice president of the United States. During the election, they spoke out forcefully about public health, health equity, and racial justice, but what will they do now that they’re in office? Prevention Institute’s Ruben Cantu and Sana Chehimi discuss what the new administration should prioritize in the first 100 days...

Ruben Cantu of Prevention Institute and Kathryn Evans of Rooted Strategy interview network leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC), an initiative of the Health Federation of Philadelphia that supports cross-sector, community networks using the science of ACEs and trauma to build a just, healthy and resilient world. In this episode, Ruben and Kathryn talk with Joel Fein and...

Ruben Cantu of Prevention Institute and Kathryn Evans of Rooted Strategy interview network leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC), an initiative of the Health Federation of Philadelphia that supports cross-sector, community networks using the science of ACEs and trauma to build a just, healthy and resilient world. In this episode, Ruben and Kathryn talk with Laura Norton-C...

Ruben Cantu of Prevention Institute and Kathryn Evans of Rooted Strategy interview network leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC), an initiative of the Health Federation of Philadelphia that supports cross-sector, community networks using the science of ACEs and trauma to build a just, healthy and resilient world. In this episode, Ruben and Kathryn talk with Yusuf Ali, Soo...

Prevention Institute Executive Director Rachel Davis joins women leaders in healthcare, health equity, and public health for a broad-ranging conversation about what we’ve learned six months into the coronavirus pandemic and what we still desperately need to do. The podcast guests discuss topics including inconsistent and inadequate data collection, attacks on public health leaders, and the importa...

In this podcast Sana Chehimi, director of policy and advocacy for Prevention Institute, interviews Isha Weerasinghe, a senior policy analyst on the youth team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). They discuss the importance of supporting mental health and wellbeing for communities of color to achieve an equitable COVID-19 recovery and as part of dismantling systems that perpetuate stru...

In this podcast, Prevention Institute’s Lisa Fujie Parks interviews Anthony Smith from Cities United and Cuco Rodriguez from the Hope and Heal Fund about advocating with mayors and school districts to divest from policing and invest in proven public health approaches to community safety, like violence interruption and youth employment opportunities. They highlight the need for cities and philanthr...

Sana Chehimi, PI’s policy and advocacy director, interviews Sue Polis, director of health and wellness, and Mike Wallace, legislative director, of the National League of Cities. They discuss the many ways city governments are responding to the coronavirus pandemic and its social and economic fallout. Polis and Wallace highlight how local governments are using this time of upheaval to address long-...

Prevention Institute Executive Director Rachel Davis joins women leaders in healthcare, health equity, and public health for a broad-ranging conversation about the coronavirus crisis, what it reveals about our society’s inequities, and what we can learn from it to ensure a healthier and more equitable society moving forward. The podcast guests discuss topics ranging from questions about the term “...

Stable, safe, and affordable housing is critical to health. But across the state of California, more and more people are being displaced, particularly low income communities and communities of color. In this episode of Moving Upstream, Prevention Institute’s Associate Program Director Sandra Viera interviews leaders from California’s Central Orange County, High Desert, Sonoma, and Eureka communiti...

Prevention Institute Board Member Howard Pinderhughes interviews community leaders from Prevention Institute’s Making Connections, an initiative that creates partnerships between community organizations in 14 locations across the country to promote the mental health and wellbeing among men and boys. In this episode he talks with leaders from the Making Connections sites in San Diego, CA; Florence,...

PI’s deputy executive director, Manal J. Aboelata, talks about her recent trip to Medellín, Colombia to learn about their innovative improvements to the city’s infrastructure. She explains how this city that was not long ago called “one of the most dangerous cities on earth” has transformed itself through public health investments, and what we in the United States can learn from its example.

Prevention Institute’s Leslie Mikkelsen, Sandra Viera, Katie Miller, and Rea Pañares discuss how healthcare organizations are collaborating with community organizations to address social determinants of health and improve health and equity. They talk about challenges of the work and highlight successes from the field. To learn more about PI’s health system transformation work, visit: http://preven...

Prevention Institute’s Lisa Fujie Parks interviews Reggie Moore, Director of the Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention. Listen to Reggie describe how the Milwaukee Blueprint for Peace was created with leadership from communities most directly impacted by violence (5:00), and learn why and how it addresses the structural roots of violence (8:55). Hear about community-driven efforts like “We Got T...

Prevention Institute’s Sarah Mittermaier and Rachel Bennett discuss how decisions about land use (development, gentrification, ownership, etc.) impact health, and what role public health can play in healthy development without displacement. To learn more about displacement and health, check out PI’s latest paper here: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/publications/healthy-development-without-dis...

Prevention Institute’s Elva Yañez discusses why some communities have more access to green spaces and parks than others, and what Los Angeles has done to improve park equity. To learn more about park equity, visit https://www.preventioninstitute.org/projects/park-equity.

PI's Ruben Cantu interviews Cody Ragonese, Gender, Health, and Masculinities Consultant from Promundo-US about Promundo’s new report, "Masculine Norms and Men’s Health: Making the Connections." They discuss healthy masculinities, and how men and communities are harmed by universal societal norms, attitudes, and behaviors that the report describes as a 'man box.' What would a re-designed man box lo...

Charles Corprew from What's Your Revolution returns for the second part of this two-part podcast to interview members of Prevention Institute’s Making Connections, an initiative that creates partnerships between community organizations in 14 sites across the country to promote the mental health and wellbeing of men and boys. In this episode he continues the conversation about healthy masculinities...

In part one of this two-part podcast, Charles Corprew from What's Your Revolution talks with members of Prevention Institute’s Making Connections, an initiative that creates partnerships between community organizations in 14 sites across the country to promote the mental health and wellbeing of men and boys. In this episode he explores healthy masculinities with community leaders from Canton, CT,...

Prevention Institute’s Andrea Buffa interviews leaders from five communities about why their collaboratives, focused on health and equity, are now developing community-driven approaches to prevent partner violence. Hear from Cultiva La Salud (at 1:17), Department of Violence Prevention Steering Committee in Oakland (at 7:11), The Center at McKinleyville (at 10:46), LA Worker Center Network (at 13:...