Workshops at API Health Forum, April 2nd!

Remember to register for our Asian & Pacific Islander Health Justice Forum Saturday, April 2nd. Join us for a day-long gathering with health equity advocates, local health authorities, organizers, students, and members of the community to discuss health equity, what it means to build healthy, resilient communities, while addressing language, gender, immigration, and cultural barriers. Organized by the COFA Alliance National Network (CANN) and APANO in partnership with Oregon Health & Science University.

Featuring our Keynote: Dina Shek. Legal Director for the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaii. For questions about the event, please contact kathy@apano.org or danitok@cann.us.

Workshops Offered:

1) Community Health: How do you define it? How can we improve it? Create the plan!
Too often, communities of color have been excluded from controlling and shaping conversations about their own communities. This workshop will focus on community strengths, defining what health means to us, and understanding who impacts our ability to reach or remain in health. Learn and discuss how the environment around you impacts your physical health and emotional well-being. Identify and create recommendations to improve how we experience health care to better serve and uplift our community. Our discussion will be combined with other communities to form recommendations and create a health improvement plan for future implementation.

2) Climate Change and Health
In this interactive workshop, we will be discussing the impacts of climate change on our health and communities. We will explore the meanings of climate justice, particularly as they pertain to Pacific Islander communities. Lastly, we'll talk about strategies to fight for the fundamental changes needed to preserve the health of our communities here in Oregon and in our homelands.

3) Reproductive Justice Timeline and Challenging the Gears of Oppression
Our communities should have the power to make decisions about our own bodies, genders, and sexual and reproductive lives. We deserve the rights, resources, and recognition that allows us to make these decisions, in order to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families. This workshop connects participants’ personal connections to community histories of reproductive oppression and resistance and shares a framework to challenge the barriers that individuals experience in accessing reproductive health at the individual, cultural, and institutional levels.

4) Building our Political Power and Voice
Asian and Pacific Islanders represent one of the largest and rapidly growing demographics in Oregon and nationally, but continue to be under engaged politically. We have the lowest voter registration and turnout rates during elections, yet many of the laws and policies in health, immigration, and education directly impact our lives and families. In one of the biggest election year’s in 2016, learn more about how community members can make a difference and truly build power.

5) Pacific Islander History and Navigating Cultural Differences
Asian and Pacific Islanders come from collectivist cultures and encounter others from the majority culture with different values, ways of relating, and communicating. In order to survive and thrive, we must increase our intercultural competence by treasuring our cultural values, and appropriately learning and using other values and behaviors to increase our success. Negative stereotypes from mainstream or Westernized culture can have a significant negative impact on our health and wellness. This workshop will enable participants to 1) combat injustices to our own self by identifying negative stereotypes and defining alternatives, 2) increase our resilience, and 3) learn ways to navigate and assert ourselves more effectively in different settings. Learn concrete strategies to advocate in social services, health care settings, schools, etc.