Policy Lab
The Policy Lab supports communities to develop and implement public policy solutions that improve child and family well-being, strengthen community resilience, foster equity, promote cross-sector integration, and dismantle systemic drivers of adversity.
The Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness and the Center for Community Resilience recognize that meaningful and lasting change to improve health outcomes and support resilience must take place across systems through policy change. By engaging in strategies to make Washington, D.C. the healthiest capital in the world, reducing health disparities and inequities, the Centers push innovation that can be replicated in other communities. The Centers’ home in the only school of public health in the nation’s capital provides a unique opportunity to influence local, national and global policy.
Learn more about the Redstone Global Center’s policy activities in Washington, DC, nationally and globally.
Centering Equity in Policymaking
At CCR, we know that policies drive systems. To create equitable outcomes, policies must be intentionally designed and implemented to achieve more just and equitable outcomes. In this guide, we have compiled 10 lessons learned for engaging policymakers and moving them toward solutions that close critical gaps in social, economic, and wellbeing.
Download the Centering Equity in Policymaking Guide
Promoting Health and Wellbeing Across the Lifespan:
A Call to Action
The Center for Community Resilience, in collaboration with the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Jacobs Institute for Women's Health, has released its 2023 policy agenda — Promoting Health and Wellbeing Across the Lifespan: A Call to Action. This agenda highlights nine essential focus areas to provide a pathway out of poverty and an equitable opportunity to optimal health, social and economic wellbeing for American families. As we work to rebuild communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, our agenda seeks to promote healing, foster equity and create opportunities for children and families to thrive by investing in the the building blocks necessary to promote community resilience.
Download: Promoting Life and Wellbeing Policy Agenda (PDF)
- Intro: A National Policy Agenda for
Promoting Health & Well-Being Across the Lifespan -
This webinar discusses the Center for Community Resilience's 2023 national policy agenda to promote health and wellbeing across the lifespan. This comprehensive agenda focuses on the building blocks for health and wellbeing to promote social and economic equity for America's children, families and communities. Presented in partnership with the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Jacobs Institute for Women's Health, the webinar discusses key components of the agenda including access to affordable childcare, behavioral health, workplace policy and reproductive health care. In a time of rising rates of housing and food insecurity, we outline an agenda that aims to ensure that our children and families have equitable access to the resources and supports necessary to thrive. View the slides.
- Maternal Health & Trauma-Informed Schools
-
Presented in partnership with Mamatoto Village and Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), this webinar discusses the need to improve maternal health outcomes for birthing people of color and create trauma-informed spaces and supports in community. In a time of rising and stubbornly high Black maternal mortality rates and increased needs for mental health supports for children in schools, this webinar will highlight policy and practice opportunities to ensure more equitable outcomes through increased access to the resources and supports necessary to thrive. View the slides.
- Child Welfare, Foster Care, and Child Wellbeing
-
Presented in partnership with Trinity Church Wall Street, JMACforFamilies, the NYC Family Policy Project, and the NYC Administration for Children's Services, we will discuss the need to reduce families' interaction with the traditional child protection system by providing resources to families upfront. In a time of increasing strain on parents and families, this webinar will highlight policy and practice opportunities to not only strengthen individual families, but also invest in neighborhood conditions that will support family health and well-being. View the slides.
Our Policy and Advocacy Principles
Grounded in the science of ACEs and developed and implemented through an actively anti-racist lens, our policy and advocacy principles:
- Focus on primary prevention of the Pair of ACEs in public health departments and across systems
- Support trauma-informed transformation within system
- Address and eliminate systemic and historic drivers of inequity
- Incorporate whole-family approaches in service delivery
- Facilitate and invest in cross-system collaboration and integration
Policy and Advocacy to Building Community Resilience
The Policy Lab uses the Pair of ACEs framework to support communities in developing and implementing public policy solutions to improve child and family well-being, strengthen community resilience, foster equity, promote cross-sector integration and dismantle systemic drivers of adversity. Support and technical assistance offered by the Policy Lab includes:
- Technical expertise in developing substantive public policy agendas at the local, state or federal level;
- Research and analysis to identify advocacy opportunities within your locality or state;
- Membership in a nationwide learning network where communities engage on policy issues, share lessons learned and have access to a range of subject-matter experts;
- In-person workshops and easy-to-use tools and guides designed to sharpen advocacy skills and activate networks to advance policy solutions; and
- Strategic planning, partnership identification and coalition building assistance to support the building of impactful policy networks.
Download the BCR Policy & Advocacy Guide