Crystal Skerven, Chief, Regional Community Coordinator

The Central Region Leadership Team has started to reengage Community Benefit Organizations (CBOs) within the Central Region to collaboratively address the health and social disparities within our communities. Our team was able to access vital information from the County of San Diego’s Epidemiology Department—data which clearly outlined a downward trend in the overall health of our community for the past five years as well as negative “spikes” within the Central Region and Southeastern San Diego.

After reviewing the data as a team, our leadership group decided to break up into small subcommittees to evaluate the information more thoroughly and help identify the possible sources of these dismal figures.

These efforts have resulted in the formation of the following workgroups:

• Housing for All
• Health and Wellbeing
• Economic Development and Education

As the names suggest, each workgroup focuses on different aspects of our region’s health and social disparities. This includes health disparities seen in the cardiovascular disease trends, as well as mental and behavioral health needs. We have also been researching the types of resources and services available for our unhoused population in the Central Region, and the impact of economic development and education on the holistic wellbeing of our communities.

Though each group is working to improve their respective areas of concern, the Central Region Leadership Team recognizes the ecosystem of the social determinants of health and its impact on the overall wellbeing of our region. Thus, in order to work towards true health equity and systemic change, we have tentatively outlined areas of focus for all the workgroups which range from procurement policies (which need to be more locally focused) to capturing data by census tracts and using San Diego County data as a planning tool rather than a historical placement.

Our efforts have begun to unify the Central Region with the goal of identifying a list of recommendations and priorities for all key stakeholders, including CBOs and City, County, and regional leaders to create positive and equitable change in our communities. Our work is giving the Central Region Leadership Team a new purpose and hope that together we can positively impact the health and social wellbeing of our region using data, capacity building, and community collaboration.