September 2025 Health Equity Zone (HEZ) Learning Community

Join colleagues, partners, and allies from across the state for engaging discussions, action oriented workshops, networking, and other community-driven opportunities! Lunch and an afternoon refreshment to be provided.

This Learning Community is part of the HEZ Training and Technical Assistance Program (TTAP). The purpose of HEZ TTAP is to provide forums for cumulative learning, knowledge sharing, leadership development, and alignment necessary to support the HEZ initiative’s network of community members, organizations, and institutions in their efforts to achieve population and systems-level change to advance equity in RI.

• Registration, Exhibit Tables, Networking, Refreshments……………10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
• Lunch and Exhibit Tables…………………………………………………….………….......12:00-1:00 p.m.
• 120-minute Workshop……………..……………………………………………...........................1-4 p.m.
• 90-minute Workshops……………..…………………………………………….......................1-2:30 p.m.
• Travel…………………………………………………………………………..………………….........2:30-2:40 p.m.
• 90-minute Workshops………………...……………..………………………………….........2:40-4:10 p.m.
• Travel…………………………………………………………………………..………………….........4:10-4:20p.m.
• Closing………………………………………………………………………………………….….......4:20-4:30p.m.

**Please note this Learning Community will start later than previous events.

120-minute Workshop……………..…………………………………………….......................1-4 p.m.

• Beloved Community: What is it and how do we build it?

While aspirational, the concept of the Beloved Community is intended to be practical rather than utopian. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made the term popular and gave it a deeper meaning by making it the overarching goal of nonviolence. It is a community where the level of relationships are raised to a higher level and where issues can be dealt with jointly in a constructive manner and objectives can move forward in a more efficient way due to the heightened sense of belonging and ownership. We are all members of many communities where we live, work, and spend leisure time. During this session we will assess the communities we belong to and discuss how we can be deliberate about strengthening our organizational community for the betterment of our workforce and the clients that we serve.

90-minute Workshops……………..……………………………………………..................1-2:30 p.m.

• Kidding Around: Supporting Teen ParentsTeen parenthood is often regarded as an unplanned phase of life resulting in an unwanted child. In this session, we will invite participants to consider a radical new way of thinking about family planning to acknowledge conscious teen parenting. In this workshop, we will review local data on rates and risks of teen parenthood. We will move from theory to practice by acknowledging stigmatizing attitudes and exploring the gaps in services that create greater challenges for young parents. Furthermore, we will share innovative strategies to more intentionally integrate teens into parenting and maternal health services.
• Efficient Housing for All Community of Practice: CHW Weatherization Ambassadors are the Key to Improving Home and Human Health in RI’s Underresourced CommunitiesFact #1: Energy efficient, weatherized homes are healthier, more comfortable, and cost less to heat and cool. Fact #2: Rhode Island has programs in place for income-eligible residents to weatherize their homes at no cost. Fact #3: Participation in weatherization programs by income-eligible ratepayers is very low.

The Efficient Housing for All Community of Practice (EHACoP) brought community-based workers and residents together to brainstorm ways to increase participation in RI’s income eligible weatherization programs from April-July 2025. In this session, EHACoP participants and staff from the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension will a) share the results from the EHACoP, b) provide information about future CHW training available in 2026, and provide an opportunity for session participants to earn incentives for signing up for and completing a home energy assessment of their own! The goal? To make energy efficiency accessible to all and improve human and environmental health in the process. Join us!

• Optional - Community Overdose Engagement (CODE) Grantee Meeting

Join this optional session to meet and receive updates from CODE Project Managers and meet with other community facing professionals working to address the overdose crisis. Audience: HEZ CODE Grant receipients and their community partners.

90-minute Workshops………………...……………..…………………………………....2:40-4:10 p.m.

• I’m Gonna Need to See Some ID: Moving Towards Racial HealingRaise your consciousness! In this workshop, participants will be motivated to continue pursuing equity in the wake of the current socio-political climate. Participants will strengthen their Self-knowledge by examining and distinguishing their own attitudes towards race and racism. They will be introduced to the Hoffman Integrated Racial Identity Development Model. With this model, they will be equipped with a powerful tool to continue their process of unlearning our racial conditioning. They will also develop insights to better understand and engage people who are in different places in their journey towards racial understanding.
• It’s Not Beautiful but it’s Reality: Addressing the Budget Reconciliation with Empathy, Compassion, and Practical Options

Policy change is coming- let’s face it together. This session blends updates on federal budget reconciliation with space for collective reflection and pragmatic strategies for navigating open enrollment 2025-2026.

Lunch Menu

• Tossed Garden Greens with Choice of Dressings
• Dried Tomato and Brie Pasta Salad
• Tuscan Minestrone Soup Topped with Romano Cheese
• Roast Beef with Black Garlic Horseradish Aioli and Grilled Red Onion on Brioche Roll
• Turkey Breast with Boston Bib Lettuce, Granny Smith Apples, and Cranberry Mayonnaise on Hearty Multigrain Bread
• Hot Grilled Vegetables served on Focaccia Bread with Fresh Mozzarella and a Balsamic Glaze
• Individual Assorted Cape Cod Chips
• Deli Garnishes and Condiments
• Assorted Pies
• Assorted Soft Drinks, Seltzer Water, and Bottled Spring Water
• Regular and Decaffeinated Coffee
• Assorted Teavana Teas

Champion Level

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of RI

Supporter Level

Brown University School of Public Health

Navigant Credit Union

Rhode Island Public Health Association

Friend Level

Health Source RI

RIDOH Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPR)

Care New England

Network of National Library of Medicine, Region 7

William James College

Learn how to become a sponsor of the HEZ Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Host or Publisher Rhode Island Department of Health