{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Healthy Project Podcast","title":"Building Community Trust in Public Health: 30 Years of Equity-Focused Communication Strategies with Darolyn Davis","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2027,"description":"After 30 years bridging the gap between public policy and communities, Darolyn Davis knows why most public health engagement efforts fail—and more importantly, how to fix them. In this episode of The Healthy Project Podcast, host Corey Dion Lewis speaks with Darolyn Davis, founder of D&A Communications, about the critical disconnect between well-intentioned public health initiatives and the communities they aim to serve. This conversation goes beyond surface-level community engagement to explore what it really takes to build institutional trust.Darolyn shares the pivotal moment in her career when she realized that policymakers were making decisions for communities without including the voices of those most affected. Working in the California State Legislature, she witnessed firsthand how missing perspectives—particularly women and people of color—led to unintended harmful consequences in public policy. This realization launched three decades of work focused on equity-first communication strategies, where community voices aren't just heard, but actively shape outcomes.Key Discussion Points:Why Traditional Outreach Fails Darolyn explains why treating outreach as a distribution problem rather than a relationship problem dooms most initiatives from the start. Sending mailers, holding meetings, and posting information online doesn't equal meaningful engagement—and communities see right through it.The Trust Gap in Healthcare. The conversation addresses uncomfortable truths about why communities, particularly communities of color, distrust healthcare institutions. With Black women facing maternal mortality rates 3-4 times higher than white women, and Black Americans comprising only 5-7 percent of clinical trial participants despite representing 14 percent of the population, historical and ongoing systemic failures shape present-day healthcare decisions.Measuring What Actually Matters Most agencies measure engagement success by counting meetings held or materials...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/fp9hNRFioBITb1pYaESm3dKM1_1oYLkYWQPMaytEniw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80OTRm/YTIyYzc4NWUxNTFh/Mzk3ZGNhNjc2NDE0/M2Q0Yy5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}