Advocates, lawmakers press for health equity measures as legislative session heats up
Yehyun Kim :: CT Mirror
Dawn Cook prays along with others who came to a protest at Bushnell Park in June. “I hope it will be a momentum to make substantial changes,” Cook said.
A month into the legislative session, advocates are turning a spotlight back on an issue that failed to gain traction at the state level last year, even as the coronavirus pandemic exposed stark disparities in health care: declaring racism a public health crisis in Connecticut and passing reform to address long-standing inequities.
In June, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police and amid a health crisis that has disproportionately harmed communities of color, cities and states across the country took the symbolic step of declaring racism a public health crisis. In Connecticut, 20 municipalities, including Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Simsbury and West Hartford, have adopted the declaration, along with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Ninety-nine cities and 72 counties nationwide have done the same, as have four states: Michigan, Nevada, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to Health Equity Solutions, which has been tracking the declarations.