The Commonwealth Fund will discuss key findings in their Health Equity Scorecard and how Indigenous journalists can utilize the data
The Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) and the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research foundation, will co-host “How Indigenous journalists can utilize data from the Health Equity Scorecard” webinar via Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 12 p.m. CT.
IJA board member and Arizona Mirror Indigenous Communities Reporter Shondiin Silversmith (Diné) and David C. Radley, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund’s Tracking Health System Performance initiative and director of data and analytics at the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health and Sciences University will be panelists for the discussion. IJA Vice President and ICT News Executive Editor, Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné) will moderate the discussion and Q&A.
IJA provides essential newsroom training for Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists and education resources for producing ethical and accurate coverage of Indigenous communities. Accurate data representation is an ongoing issue and this webinar aims to deliver reporting resources and tools to help journalists investigate the impact of past policies on health across racial and ethnic groups.
The Commonwealth Fund’s Scorecard on State Health System Performance has long tracked the functioning of each state’s health care system, with the goal of motivating actions to improve their residents’ health and health care. But assessing how well a state’s health system performs on average can mask profound underlying inequities.
In this report, the Commonwealth Fund evaluated health equity across race and ethnicity, both within and between states, to illuminate how state health systems perform for Black, white, Latinx/Hispanic, AIAN, and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations.
Attendees can register for the webinar here. After registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email with information about how to join.
An on-demand recording of the webinar will be available via the IJA website and YouTube channel.
Presenters:
David C. Radley, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund’s Tracking Health System Performance initiative and director of data and analytics at the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU). He is a health services researcher with expertise in small-area analysis and in the design, implementation, and interpretation of observational studies that take advantage of large administrative and survey-based datasets. Prior to joining OHSU, he held positions at Westat, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and Abt Associates. Radley received his Ph.D. in health policy from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. He holds a B.A. from Syracuse University and an M.P.H. from Yale University.
Shondiin Silversmith (Diné) is an award-winning Native journalist and Indigenous communities reporter for the Arizona Mirror based on the Navajo Nation. Silversmith has covered Indigenous communities for more than 10 years, and covers Arizona’s 22 federally recognized sovereign tribal nations, as well as national and international Indigenous issues. Her digital, print and audio stories have been published by USA TODAY, The Arizona Republic, Navajo Times, The GroundTruth Project and PRX’s “The World.” Silversmith earned her master’s degree in journalism and mass communication in Boston before moving back to Arizona to continue reporting stories on Indigenous communities. She serves on the board of directors for the Indigenous Journalists Association and has made it a priority in her career to advocate, pitch and develop stories surrounding Indigenous communities in the newsrooms she works in.
Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné) is executive editor for ICT News, formerly Indian Country Today. She is the first woman to be the chief news executive and top editor of the 42-year-old newspaper and website. She’s also IJA vice president. She is a Diné citizen of the Navajo Nation. She identifies as the Towering House Clan, the Coyote Pass Clan of Jemez, the Mexican Clan, and the Hopi with Red Running Into the Water Clan. Jourdan received her master’s degree in magazine, newspaper and online journalism through the Newhouse Minorities Fellowship at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York. Her health background is rooted in her bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Fort Lewis College and the University of Michigan Future Public Health Leaders Program via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She’s written for Native Peoples Magazine, Fan First, MediaShift, The Daily Times, IJA’s/NAJA’s Native Voices News, NPR’s NextGen Radio Project, and Syracuse.com/The Post-Standard.
The Indigenous Media Initiative is supported by the following organizations:
- Democracy Fund
- Ford Foundation
- The Commonwealth Fund
- The MacArthur Foundation
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- The Society of Professional Journalists Foundation
About the Indigenous Journalists Association
The Indigenous Journalists Association’s mission is centered on the idea that accurate and contextual reporting about Indigenous people and communities is necessary to overcome biases and stereotypes portrayed in popular and mainstream media. Expanding access to accurate news and information is essential to an informed citizenry and healthy democracy, across tribal, local, state and national levels.
For more than 40 years, Indigenous journalists across the United States and Canada have worked to support and sustain IJA. Originally formed as the Native American Press Association in 1983, the organization has grown from just a handful of reporters to a membership of nearly 900, which includes Indigenous journalists, associates, educators and partners.
