Top, from left: Grace Evans, moderator, Chief of Staff at ONE Neighborhood Builders; Ana Novais, Acting Secretary of Executive Office of Health and Human Services, State of Rhode Island; Center, from left: Nwando Ofokansi, Health Equity Zone Project Officer, RI Department of Health; Dupe Akinrimisi, Project Manager, Woonsocket Health Equity Zone; Bottom, from left: Sydney Ormerod, Director of Prevention, Women’s Resource Center (Newport); Dominique Resendes, Assistant Director of Place-based Initiatives, ONE Neighborhood Builders (Central Providence)
About 45 people joined Fresh Fridays on Friday, February 3, 2023 to discuss Health Equity Zones in Rhode Island.
Panelists included:
- Ana Novais, Acting Secretary of Executive Office of Health and Human Services, State of Rhode Island
- Nwando Ofokansi, Health Equity Zone Project Officer, RI Department of Health
- Dupe Akinrimisi, Project Manager, Woonsocket Health Equity Zone
- Sydney Ormerod, Director of Prevention, Women’s Resource Center (Newport)
- Dominique Resendes, Assistant Director of Place-based Initiatives, ONE Neighborhood Builders (Central Providence)
Participants spoke about what HEZes are, what they do and how different they look throughout the state. Novais explained that backbone organizations, like ONE|NB, serve as a “glue” holding agencies together, providing essential infrastructure so that HEZes can function and serve their communities.
Novais commented that other states and cities are looking at Rhode Island as a national model for how Health Equity Zones work, and that HEZes throughout the state need to be sure to advocate and tell their stories to the Legislature.
“My dream or vision is we’ll have a HEZ in every city or town,” Novais said.
