By Angela Chambers
It is with great honor and distinction that the Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative accepts the silver award in the category of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Best Community Engagement for the first Anthem Awards inaugural season! Join our team at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, for the live ceremony where we will be honored alongside so many from around the country.
Cat Willis
The Anthem Awards was launched in response to the prevalence social good has taken within the national conversation and cultural zeitgeist in recent years. The inaugural competition received nearly 2,500 entries from 36 countries worldwide.
“Black Health Matters Initiative was born out of the response to the murder of Mr. George Floyd and the Santa Cruz Black community convening with one another to take action,” founding director Cat Willis says.
“Through partnerships across the county with multigenerational and multi-focused Black leadership, Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative embarked upon and mobilized a community initiative that promotes equity through a network of community trust, advocacy, and collaboration to improve the quality of life for Black residents in Santa Cruz County,” she says.
“Dismantling systemic racism and the frameworks they hold requires a multidimensional approach through trust, partnership, transparency, and equalizing all voices at the table to develop new frameworks. Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative believes in the power of cultural place-making and the arts at the center to achieve this.”
She adds, “Our work has only just begun as we embark on year two of the Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative through our Data Spotlight in partnership with United Way Santa Cruz County, and our work with local county and city government agencies, investors, and community organizations. We believe that driving the investment in this work to take it to the next level is our next step.
This historic and groundbreaking report and initiative centers the Black residents of Santa Cruz County’s true quality of life; both by the numbers in raw data and through their lived and shared qualitative experiences.”
By amplifying the voices that spark global change, the Anthem Awards are defining a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their communities.
A portion of program revenue will fund a new grant program supporting emerging individuals and organizations working to advance the causes recognized in the inaugural Anthem Awards.
This year’s Anthem Award Winners will be celebrated virtually at 2 p.m. Feb. 28, at anthemawards.com.
Special Achievement Winners will recognized for their outstanding contribution and work to make an impact on society. This year’s Special Achievement Winners are:
- Anthem Athlete of the Year: Naomi Osaka for claiming her third Grand Slam title while igniting a conversation about mental health, racial injustice and police brutality.
- Anthem Entertainer of the Year: Adam McKay for holding up a mirror to society through his work, challenging the status quo, and for the powerful messages that he compels us to hear.
Jay Ellis, star of HBO’s Insecure, the upcoming film Top Gun: Maverick and host of The Untold Story: Policing podcast, is the awards host.
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Key Survey Findings
Information was gathered in August and September 2021 via an online survey completed by 87 people and four online focus groups involving 31 people recruited by NAACP Santa Cruz County, Black Girl Magic, Black Surf Club and the Santa Cruz County Black Coalition for Racial Justice and Equity, with ASR staff as scribes.
- 76% felt their healthcare provider addressed their concerns most of the time or always; 54% felt their race/ethnicity impacted their quality of health care.
- 20% said they or someone in their household had tested positive for Covid. 87% reported being vaccinated; 10% more were somewhat likely to very likely to get vaccinated. On Jan 13, 2022, the county reported 154 known cases among Blacks, which is .58% of total cases, less than the percentage of Blacks in the county (.87%).
- 56% reported racial discrimination they had experienced or witnessed affected their mental health often or very often. (In a school survey, 19% of Black 9th and 11th graders in the county reported seriously considering suicide in 2017-2019, compared to 13% statewide.)
- 79% reported they were financially the same or better off this year compared to last year. 71% said they pay more than a third of their income for housing. 35% reported it was somewhat difficult or very difficult for their household to pay usual expenses in the past 12 months.
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The 69-page Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Spotlight, with more detailed info, is at www.unitedwaysc.org/research-reports
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Black/African American Population
Santa Cruz County: 1.7% (nearly doubled since 2013)
California: 7%
County Median Family Income
(latest available: 2019)
Black: $78,381 • Hispanic/Latino: $77,307 • White: $123,248
Santa Cruz High School 11th Graders Report Chronic Sadness or Hopelessness
(2018-19)
Black/African American: 38% • Hispanic/Latino: 32% • White 32%