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Power-building partnerships for health: Lessons from Santa Barbara about building power to protect farmworker health and advance health equity

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This journal article describes Power-building Partnerships for Health, a program in the United States that pairs local public health departments and community organizing groups to support transformational health equity work. The article provides a case example in which the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department partnered with 2 grassroots organizations, CAUSE and MICOP. The partnership led to the launch of a Latinx Indigenous Migrant Health COVID-19 Task Force and to the passing of a novel Health Officer Order on safety in farmworker housing. Public health can use this resource as an example of how to build community power and to recognize how partnering with community organizing groups during COVID-19 changed public policy and saved lives.


Gaydos, M., Do-Reynoso, V., Williams, M., Davalos, H., & López, A.J. (2022) Power-building partnerships for health: Lessons from Santa Barbara about building power to protect farmworker health and advance health equity. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 28(4): S166–70. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001485

Tags: COVID-19, Intersectoral action, Power, Community Organization, Public Health Unit/Health Authority, Document, Journal Article