Diversity in the Health Professions
Fellowship Program Trains Next Generation of Health Advocates
 hen the Greenlining Institute created Bridges to Health in 2002, the health component of its leadership academy, it set out to broaden the academy’s scope by providing its Health Fellows with leadership and advocacy training on the most pressing health policy issues facing California’s underserved communities.
Berkeley-based Greenlining Institute has a rich history of educating California’s emerging multiethnic public policy and advocacy leaders. Founded in 1993, it is one of the only multiethnic, public policy think tanks serving low-income and minority communities in California.
 Realizing that health policy plays a role in the economic development issues its fellows were already addressing, the institute established Bridges to Health to expose emerging multiethnic public policy and advocacy leaders to a wide array of health policy issues affecting communities of color in California. During the one-year program, Health Fellows receive training in understanding the legislative process, effective communications skills, program management and meeting facilitation, and are given the opportunity to build social networks that will enhance their effectiveness as part of the next generation of social justice advocates.
Bridges to Health benefits from and builds upon the tenured training program at the academy, which has honed the leadership skills of Greenlining Fellows for 10 years. The Health Fellows program hit the ground running and in the past three years has made great strides in the research and analysis of health issues including increasing access to care, increasing diversity in the health care workforce, pharmaceutical industry and prescription drug policies, and economic development for community health organizations.
“The program has proven to be mutually beneficial for the multiethnic Health Fellows, who gain hands-on experience, and for Greenlining, which benefits from the research and advocacy on behalf of the underserved populations it cares about,” said Saba Brelvi, TCWF program director.
TCWF helped to launch the program in 2002 and renewed its financial support in 2004 by awarding the program a two-year, $200,000 grant to provide leadership development training for four fellows.
One of the program’s core projects is the prescription drug research and advocacy alliance “OURx Coalition.” Bridges to Health is a founding member of the group of 10 consumer rights and advocacy organizations that supports the principles of providing better information to Californians purchasing prescription drugs, fair marketing practices by manufacturers, and affordable drug prices for California consumers.
“The Bridges to Health program has relied greatly on its fellows to perform research; meet with legislators and their staffs; attend and contribute at OURx meetings; participate in and help plan many of the events including press conferences, forums and panel discussions; and write op-eds and letters to the editor,” said John Yuasa, Greenlining’s health policy director.
With such hands-on experience and specific training on health policy and advocacy issues, fellows have gone on to graduate school, public health departments, HMOs, foundations and public policy organizations to advocate on behalf of minority and low-income communities.
“As a result of Greenlining’s commitment to developing the leadership and advocacy skills of its fellows and by focusing on health issues that impact California’s communities of color, it is poised to become a significant contributor to the field of increasing diversity in the health professions over the next few years,” said Brelvi.
For more information, please visit www.greenlining.org
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