Leading Change at Berkeley Public Health: Building the Anti-racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change

Introduction

The University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health (BPH) is leading an effort to embed antiracist principles into its institutional framework. Through the Anti-Racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change (ARC4JSTC) initiative, BPH is addressing systemic racism as both a public health and academic crisis.

This article describes how the initiative redefines its culture, practices, and outcomes and underscores the university’s commitment to equity and inclusion. By tackling racism at its roots, BPH aims to dismantle barriers that have long contributed to disparities in health and education.

The authors include Amani M. Allen, PhD, an Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Ché Abram, MBA, Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at UC Berkeley; Navya Pothamsetty, a biostatistics consultant at Kaiser Permanente and formerly affiliated with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Andrea Jacobo, MPH, a Health Equity Researcher at the University of Tennessee and formerly affiliated with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Leanna Lewis, MSW, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Health Sciences; Sai Ramya Maddali, MPH, a Postdoctoral Scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Michelle Azurin, MPH, a Business Project Manager at Jaswal Dream Builder and formerly affiliated with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Emily Chow, an affiliate of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; Michael Sholinbeck, MLIS, the Public Health Librarian at UC Berkeley; and Abby Rincón, an educational consultant and formerly Chief of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

Methods and Findings

Guided by a steering committee
The ARC4JSTC initiative began with an inclusive coalition-building process to ensure representation across students, faculty, staff, and community members. A steering committee guided the effort, emphasizing shared decision-making and community ownership. This diverse group worked collaboratively to define a vision and set guiding principles centered on cultural humility, structural accountability, and collective responsibility. This initial phase laid the foundation for a coordinated effort that avoided duplication of work while fostering trust and alignment among stakeholders.

Using data to inform strategy
BPH conducted comprehensive data collection in the second phase to inform its strategies and priorities. Surveys, focus groups, and climate assessments highlighted critical areas for growth, including the need for improved racial literacy, bystander intervention skills, and faculty confidence in adopting antiracist pedagogy. The data revealed persistent disparities in the experiences of students, staff, and faculty from underrepresented groups, reinforcing the urgency of systemic change. These findings also informed the design of targeted initiatives to address the identified gaps.

Focusing on key programs
Implementation of the ARC4JSTC included several key programs aimed at fostering antiracist practices across the institution. Faculty participated in an Antiracist Pedagogy Leadership Academy, which equipped them with tools to create more inclusive classroom environments. The initiative also facilitated the creation of a new graduate course focused on racial justice in public health, which provided students with frameworks to address systemic inequities. Workforce training sessions and community-building activities helped staff develop the skills and motivation needed to contribute to the initiative’s goals. While these efforts yielded significant progress, challenges, like resistance to change and workload burdens on participants, highlighted the complexity of achieving institutional transformation.

Conclusions

The ARC4JSTC initiative demonstrates how a data-informed, collaborative approach can drive meaningful change in addressing systemic racism within academic institutions. BPH has made substantial strides toward becoming an antiracist institution by prioritizing structural transformation and embedding equity into its core practices. Given the initiative’s successes, other higher education and public health programs can learn from ARC4JSTC’s work in faculty development, curriculum redesign, and community engagement. Nonetheless, sustaining progress will require continued commitment, resources, and accountability from institutional leadership and stakeholders.

Challenges, such as resistance to change and workload burdens, must be addressed proactively to ensure the long-term success of these efforts. As BPH continues to refine its strategies and build on its accomplishments, the ARC4JSTC initiative exemplifies how institutions can lead the way in fostering justice, equity, and inclusion in education.