County Team Doing Work To Improve Health of Community

By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer As manager of Sacramento County’s Health and Racial Equity Unit, Kirbee Brooks-Gomez looks to “move the needle” and address systemic disparities in communities of color. Photo: Provided by Sac County Public Health Department Sacramento County Board of Supervisors named racism a public health crisis in November of 2020 and created a team to address issues and be responsive to the needs of local communities of color. Led by Kirbee Brooks-Gomez, the Public Health Health and Racial Equity Unit is still fairly new but already showing the promise of change.& “The health and racial equity unit works to expand and build health and racial equity programs, policies and practices throughout public health, to eliminate, mitigate, and prevent existing and future health disparities and inequities that Black, brown, indigenous people of color, and underserved communities face in Sacrament County,” Brooks-Gomez said. The unit worked with ONTRACK Program Resources to assess the County Public Health divisions’ capacity to advance racial equity.& “From the results of this assessment, ONTRACK developed a seven-part training series that they’re currently implementing for all public health employees,” Brooks-Gomez said. “These required trainings are really helping to build the capacity of...