Health Equity and Human Flourishing in Memphis
Rhodes College was recently awarded a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will be used over the next three years to enable the college to bring health equity education to community partners in Memphis. Our goal is to help our partners find ways to collaborate to address the disparities that impair human health and flourishing and to see ways to build a culture of equity.
What do we mean by health and human flourishing?
Health and human flourishing are products of the social relationships that shape us as individuals and in communities. Health and well-being grow in egalitarian communities, and disparities take root amidst social inequalities. We can measure the justice of a society in the bodies of its people. The social forces that shape health and well-being include transportation, education, housing and neighborhood conditions, access to green spaces and art, employment and income stability, food, social support, religious belonging, and access to health care services. Migration, globalization, poverty, territory, and cultural are also powerful drivers of health and well-being.
Because the root challenge for building health equity is social inequality, not lack of access to medicine, solutions can only emerge when social forces align to offer fair chances for all people to flourish. Understanding where disparities grow and how to uproot them requires collaboration from all sectors of society. We plan to work especially with governmental, educational, philanthropic, and health care organizations.
Lecture Topics
Education
Dr. Laura Kelly, Assistant Professor of Elementary Literacy
Dr. Laura Taylor, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies
Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, Associate Professor of Psychology & Director of Urban Studies
Food
Gender and Sexuality
Greenspaces and the Arts
Healthcare
Dr. Peter Hossler, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies
Dr. Kendra Hotz, Associate Professor of Urban Studies & Robert R. Waller Chair of Population Health
Housing
Dr. Peter Hossler, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies
Dr. Evelyn Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology (Chair)
Dr. Shaolu Yu, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies
Immigration
Dr. Abou-Bakar Mamah, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages & Literatures
Dr. Shaolu Yu, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies
Neighborhoods
Dr. Evelyn Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology (Chair)
Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, Associate Professor of Psychology & Director of Urban Studies
Dr. Katherine White, Professor of Psychology (Chair) & Director of Fellowships Undergraduate Research
Policing and Incarceration
Dr. Stephanie Cage, Associate Director for the Turley Memphis Center & Director for Community Engagement for the Mellon Equity Grant
Dr. Duane Loynes, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and African Studies
Skills for Equity: Structural Competence and Cultural Humility
Dr. Duane Loynes, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and African Studies
Social Determinants of Health
Dr. Kendra Hotz, Associate Professor of Urban Studies & Robert R. Waller Chair of Population Health
Transportation
Dr. Shaolu Yu, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies