Podcast: BUILDing a Movement: Going Upstream to Address Health Disparities


Emily Yu, BUILD Health Challenge

Emily Yu, MBA, is Executive Director of the BUILD Health Challenge, an All In partner initiative that supports local collaborations between community-based organizations, health departments, and hospitals/health systems that are working to address important health issues in their communities. She shared examples of innovative multi-sector projects happening across the country and described key learnings, tools, and frameworks for multi-sector, community-driven partnerships working to reduce health disparities caused by system-based or social inequity. To date, BUILD has supported 37 projects in 21 states and Washington, DC.

Additional Resources:

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Takeaways from the Interview

In the words of Emily Yu…

1. Foster a sense of shared responsibility among partners

“This idea of accountability among partners–that’s something we’ve heard time and time again has been a hallmark of more successful groups in terms of moving things along, getting decisions made, acknowledging debates when they need to happen, and coming to a resolution or consensus from that.”

2. Build the infrastructure for regular, joint decision-making

“Groups that invest in the logistics and the time and the bandwidth it takes to actually care and feed for a collaboration tend to do better. The groups that set aside time for a regular standing meeting, rotate leadership amongst themselves, and hold each other accountable. It’s those behind-the-scenes elements that may not be quantified by dollars or staff time or salary, but are critical to the success of a site.”

3. Do not underestimate the time it takes to shift to a data-driven model

“Something as small as a memorandum of understanding or an agreement may actually push back a group for as much as a year as far as being able to achieve some of the goals that rely on data. At the same time, without that intentionality, without that embrace of data, those things that may have taken an extra year would have never happened.”

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