New Friends and Inspiration at The SCAN Foundation’s ECO Group Summit

In late September, Dr. Danny Domínguez (CEO of On the Margins) and I had the opportunity to attend The SCAN Foundation’s “United for Health Equity in Aging” summit in Burbank, California.

This unique event consisted of a half-day conference for members of those organizations, including the Healthcare Foundation, facilitating Equity Community Organizing (ECO) Groups in California; and a full-day conference for statewide providers, policy makers, government officials and advocates working with and for California seniors. 

For those unfamiliar with our local ECO Group work, the Healthcare Foundation received funding from The SCAN Foundation in partnership with the California Health Care Foundation to collaborate with other local health nonprofits in organizing and facilitating a group for Latinx seniors in Cloverdale. 

The purpose of this group is to learn more about the experience of being a Latinx senior living in Cloverdale and, more pointedly, to support low-income seniors in identifying the challenges to and solutions for greater health equity and wellbeing. The ECO Group allows us the chance to learn more about the elderly populations we serve but also, just as importantly, offers the seniors the opportunity to gain skills in advocacy, learning how to use their voices for social change.

During the half-day portion of the summit, we worked closely with the other ECO Groups funded by The SCAN Foundation and CHCF across California. These groups are:

• Booker T. Washington Community Service Center in San Francisco, focused on seniors living in the Western Addition District of San Francisco,
• The Sankofa Elders Project in Los Angeles, focused on Black elders, and
• Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation in El Centro, focused on Indigenous elders and food stability.

“The ECO Group allows us the chance to learn more about the elderly populations we serve but also, just as importantly, offers the seniors the opportunity to gain skills in advocacy, learning how to use their voices for social change.”

Amy Ramirez

Dr. Domínguez and I had the opportunity to share about our own work with the Cloverdale seniors, while learning from the work of other ECO Groups. Additionally, the opportunity to spend this time with our funders allowed us as ECO Groups to advocate together for necessary ongoing funding to continue our work with our systemically marginalized, underserved seniors. 

This intimate gathering was a safe space where we could share out our wins and challenges, uplifting each other and coming away with inspiration and fresh ideas on how to best support our seniors and guide the ECO Group work toward measurable action.

The following day, our ECO Groups folded into the larger Summit where highlights included a lecture by Manuel Pastor, Director of USC Dornsife Equity Research Institute, who presented a dynamic presentation on the present and future states of our BIPOC seniors in California. Additionally, a panel discussion on the “State of Health Equity” looked at the before and after of COVID-19 and its impact on policy and system change as it applies to our state’s seniors.

All the speakers were informative and inspiring. Additionally, our own Dr. Danny was invited to lead a solidarity clap for the 400-person conference.

However, the absolute treasure of the summit was that Dolores Huerta herself came onstage and spoke to us all about the importance of advocacy for seniors and especially seniors of color. I wiped away tears as I sat just a few feet away listening to this 94-year-old living legend tell us how to disrupt the system for the good of the people. As she concluded, Dolores led us in her iconic chant as we joined our voices together to affirm, “Si se puede!”

I came away from our time there feeling well aligned with our colleagues and completely inspired. A few weeks later, Dr. Danny and I returned to Cloverdale ready to support our seniors and community partners in this critical advocacy work. The seniors of the Cloverdale ECO Group have chosen Housing Rights as their topic of focus. These seniors are ready to raise their voices, and we are ready to hand them the megaphones.