The Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force

Purpose

Established under Executive Order No. 143, the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force addresses the social, environmental, economic, and health disparities in communities of color disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. The Task Force is named in honor of the late civil rights activist, Andrea Harris, who dedicated her life to eliminating disparities in North Carolina, co-founding the non-profit Institute of Minority Economic Development in Durham and serving on the state’s Advisory Council for Historically Underutilized Businesses. The five focus areas of the Task Force are:

• Access to Healthcare
• Economic Opportunity and Business Development
• Educational Opportunity
• Environmental Justice and Inclusion
• Patient Engagement

Read the full press release announcing the Task Force here.

Goal

To create economic stability, eliminate health disparities, and achieve environmental justice in North Carolina.

Guiding Principles

Put People First

North Carolina’s citizens are our greatest asset.  As a subset of our communities remain underserved and with less access to resources and opportunity, it inhibits our ability to ensure that our citizens, and our State, reach their full potential. 

Ensure Sustainability of Efforts

COVID-19 has shed light on economic and health disparities in North Carolina. However, once we are past COVID-19, we must ensure that we continue to build towards, and maintain, a system that provides more equal and stable access to economic opportunities and healthcare. 

Make Efforts Adaptable to Change and Scalable to Needs

As we learn more about COVID-19, and any other challenges we may face, we must ensure that North Carolina’s policies are structured to adjust to new information and challenges. In addition, any efforts undertaken must be scalable to manage increased needs over time. 

Ensure Transparency and Accountability

Providing full information regarding efforts and their effectiveness lends itself towards ensuring that human and economic capital are best utilized to achieve relevant goals.  

Objectives

The Task Force will focus on the following areas:

1. Access to healthcare for underserved communities.

• Monitor and report best practices to increase access to telehealth and broadband internet-based medical treatment;
• Monitor and report whether North Carolinians have adequate insurance coverage in responding to COVID-19 and managing underlying health conditions; and
• Assess application of the "Medical Home" approach to providing comprehensive, family-centered, and culturally competent care that meets the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of all North Carolinians.

2. Enhanced patient engagement in healthcare settings.

• Encourage medical professionals to engage communities of color to gather information and provide a platform for transparency and inclusion;
• Support and identify opportunities to increase the number of minority health professionals servicing communities of color; and
• Encourage increased cultural competence in the provision of care for communities of color.

3. Economic opportunities in business development and employment.

• Assess and report ways the state may further support historically underutilized businesses;
• Advance economic recovery by prioritizing actions that create quality employment opportunities for the North Carolina workforce;
• Assess and report opportunities for organizational capability and capacity building; and
• Prioritize workforce development across all sectors (including healthcare workforce development).

4. Environmental Justice and Inclusion.

• Enhance public engagement and increase public participation by low income, minority communities in Department decisions and actions;
• Quantify health and welfare benefits of pollution reduction and identify opportunities to increase the deployment of clean energy resources;
• Advance climate justice by prioritizing actions that equitably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase community resilience to the impacts of climate change, and advance sustainable economic and infrastructure recovery efforts for low-income, minority and vulnerable communities; and
• Encourage and enhance environmental justice, inclusion and equity education.

5. Create educational opportunities for communities of color in the following areas:

• Health literacy;
• Financial literacy; and
• General academia.
• In addition, the Task Force shall make recommendations on strategies to increase funding for health education in community centers servicing vulnerable communities.

Learn More About Executive Order 143

Executive Order 143 addresses the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. View and download the executive order here.

Meet the Members of the Task Force

Support the Work of the Task Force

Members of the public who are interested in supporting the work of one of the Task Force subcommittees can fill out a survey to indicate interest here.

Proposed Recommendations by the Task Force Subcommittees

Recommendations:

Executive Order No. 143 states that, “By December 1, 2020, and every six (6) months thereafter, the Task Force shall provide to the Office of the Governor a status report on the progress and recommendations made in the focus areas determined by Section 1 of this Executive Order.”

The initiatives highlighted below are not official recommendations made by the Task Force.  In an attempt to remain transparent in its scope of work, the Task Force invites members of the public to comment on the potential areas for action highlighted below:

Access to Healthcare:

• Increase access to broadband and telemedicine in North Carolina, particularly, in rural counties and communities of color.
• Utilize the medical home approach in providing comprehensive family centered and culturally competent care that meets the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of all North Carolinians. 

Economic Opportunity and Business Development:

• Increase utilization of Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) for goods and services.
• Support workforce development programs and initiatives in the public and private sector.

Educational Opportunity:

• Host public virtual roundtables with physical medical professionals, mental health professionals, higher education leaders, and other relevant professionals.  

Environmental Justice and Inclusion:

• Evaluate the feasibility and/or designate a permanent full-time position on Environmental Justice, Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and at the Office of Emergency Management. 
• Conduct an inventory on aging infrastructure and buildings (schools, senior centers, etc) that have exposure to radon, asbestos, mildew, mold, etc. and consider remediation projects of impacted facilities for job creation initiatives.
• Develop a legislative strategy: Additions/changes to statutes and rules to incorporate environmental Justice criteria into regulatory actions.

Patient Engagement:

• Identify the best cultural competency practices in health agencies across North Carolina via survey and implement a uniform training across the state.
• Create or sponsor an initiative (or policies) that requires data collection to cover all demographics (race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc.).

Task Force & Subcommittee Meeting Dates

The Andrea Harris Task Force, established by Executive Order 143 shall meet 
bi-monthly for the duration of the State of Emergency, and quarterly thereafter. 

Meeting Information: Agendas, Minutes and Presentations

Inaugural Task Force Meeting - August 5, 2020

• Agenda
• View a recording of the August 5 convening here.

Task Force Subcommittee Meetings - August 19, 2020

• View a recording of the Access to Healthcare Subcommittee meeting here.
• View a recording of the Educational Opportunities Subcommittee meeting here.
• View a recording of the Environmental Justice and Inclusion Subcommittee meeting here.
• View a recording of the Patient Engagement Subcommittee meeting here.

Task Force Subcommittee Meeting - August 27, 2020

• View a recording of the Economic Opportunity and Business Development Subcommittee meeting here.

Task Force Meeting - September 2, 2020

• Agenda
• View a recording of the September 2 convening here.

Task Force Subcommittee Meetings - September 16, 2020

• View a recording of the Environmental Justice and Inclusion Subcommittee meeting here.

Task Force Listening Session - September 22, 2020

• View a recording of the listening session on topics concerning access to healthcare, economic opportunity and business development, educational opportunity and patient engagement here.