Dismantling institutional racism: theory and action.

Despite a strong commitment to promoting social change and liberation, there are few community psychology models for creating systems change to address oppression. Given how embedded racism is in institutions such as healthcare, a significant shift in the system's policies, practices, and procedures is required to address institutional racism and create organizational and institutional change. This paper describes a systemic intervention to address racial inequities in healthcare quality called dismantling racism. The dismantling racism approach assumes healthcare disparities are the result of the intersection of a complex system (healthcare) and a complex problem (racism). Thus, dismantling racism is a systemic and systematic intervention designed to illuminate where and how to intervene in a given healthcare system to address proximal and distal factors associated with healthcare disparities. This paper describes the theory behind dismantling racism, the elements of the intervention strategy, and the strengths and limitations of this systems change approach.

RACISM IN ORGANIZATIONS: THE CASE OF A COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.

Racism is part of the foundation of U.S. society and institutions, yet few studies in community psychology or organizational studies have examined how racism affects organizations. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of institutional racism, which describes how, in spite of professional standards and ethics, racism functions within organizations to adversely affect the quality of services, the organizational climate, and staff job satisfaction and morale. Grounded in systems theory and organizational empowerment, the framework is based on data that describe how racism was made manifest in a county public health department. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how organizations are influenced by external forces and can negatively affect clients, communities, and their own staff members.