Innovation in the 'Burg: Digging into The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg's Center for Health Equity

Key Insights

• Today's expert: Carl Lavender, Chief Engagement Office at the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg
• Today's community member: Dr. Cynthia Johnson, Director of Florida Small Business Development Center at Pinellas County Economic Development
• Lavender shares the story of the founding and mission of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. The Foundation advances health equity in South Pinellas County, and over the last years has invested $20 million in the community.
• Lavender says the Foundation allows nonprofits, particularly those in South St. Petersburg, a chance to build up their backbones and their advance smart missions in the area.
• The Center for Health Equity is located at the corner of 34th Street and 22nd Avenue South, previously the site of a Publix. It is the first center of its kind in Tampa Bay, and one of only a few across the nation.
• The Center for Healthy Equity was created because the Foundation recognized the difficulty of scaling small nonprofit missions, without a place for convening nonprofit leaders and advocates together.
• Convening at the Center means bringing together facts and lived experience, structured as a safe space to talk about race and equity, a place to bring together different perspectives to build a movement beyond grant-making.
• Courageous Conversations Regarding Race, program that allows the space to be candid about different experiences with race, fostering culture change.
• The Center operates on a set of ground rules and guiding principles. It doesn't allow space for just any meeting, those using the space must have an equity lens and must talk about equity within the hosted conversation.
• Johnson explains the importance of how the Center makes citizens feel. Johnson says she feels a certain pride because she lives in a community who cares about what happens to "the least of us."
• Lavender shared a story from Jim Oliver, a leader in St. Pete's African American community, who said that the plaza in which it is located were once barred black residents from even entering the space, let alone the grocery store that was once there.
• There is a transformative power to creating a space curated for and staffed by African American residents.
• Lavender also explains the physical makeup of the Center, and the structures that make it so special, including "idea theaters" and round tables that ensure there is no "head" of the table.
• Lavender asks community members to make an appointment to visit the Center for Health Equity outside of special event hours.
• Barlow shares a lesson she learned from the Foundation. As a facilitator of hundreds of discussions in the community, she never thought about the importance of equity in those conversations. Johnson shares the importance of diversity in suppliers for economic development.