Examining the White Supremacist Practices of Funding Organizations for Public Health Research and Practice: A Composite Narrative From Female, BIPOC Junior Researchers in Public Health

Abstract

Background. It is challenging for junior public health investigators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) to secure funding for projects and research. We used a narrative inquiry approach to understand and present the funding cascade from the perspectives of female, junior BIPOC researchers and provide funders with actionable recommendations to advance their antiracist goals. Approach. We applied a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework to guide our narrative inquiry approach. The participants were the four co-authors and we each drafted individual narratives around our experience with the funding cascade and subsequently the five stages of narrative analysis. Results. We created a visual representation of key activities for funders and applicants organized by our perceived magnitude of inequities in a journey map, an interpreter table that describes common phrases and barriers encountered, and a composite counternarrative presented as a group text message conversation, elevating common themes including feeling pressured to have our research agendas conform to funders’ interests and receiving limited key information and support in the funding process. Discussion. We discussed how our findings represented manifestations of White supremacy characteristics like power hoarding and paternalism. Implications for practice. We offered specific antidotes for funding organizations to make their processes more antiracist and invited leaders of public health funding organizations to join us to further identify antidotes and share lessons learned in Fall 2023.

Changing for Good

“…“Dear Health Promotion Scholar: Letters of Life from, for, and about Black Women” by LaNita S. Wright, Juliet Iwelunmor, and Jeanetta D. Sims—a moving exploration of the experience of being “outsiders within,” that uses relational dialectics and letter writing to confront long-standing racism embedded within academic spaces.“PRESENCE//Gifted: On Poetry, Antiracism, and Epistemic Violence in Health Promotion,” in which Ryan J. Petteway critically analyzes the overlapping pandemics of COVID-19 and structural racism through searing prose, followed by a poem that “enacts poetry as praxis, testimony, resistance, and “rememory.” This powerful reflection is the 20 th poem we have published, standing along our recurring section, Poetry for the Public’s Health. “Examining the White Supremacist Practices of Funding Organizations for Public Health Research and Practice: A Composite Narrative From Female, BIPOC Junior Researchers in Public Health” by Elizabeth Chen, Deshira Wallace, Cristina Leos, and Yesenia Merino does exactly that. The authors deconstruct the cultural norms of the funding cascade—from call for proposals through awards—using tenets of Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw, 2011) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999), and then offer specific antidotes for funding organizations that seek to operate differently.…”

An Evaluation of the Successes of the NASTAD Minority Leadership Program and Its Implications for Leadership in State Health Departments

“…This historically stems from structural and institutional racism in public health institutions, and the need to diversify the workforce and leadership still exists today. For instance, when comes to funding for public health research, Black scientists are less likely than their White counterparts to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health 1. This is because Black scientists are more likely to develop research projects that address structural-level health determinants compared with individual health issues 1.…”

“…This is because Black scientists are more likely to develop research projects that address structural-level health determinants compared with individual health issues 1. In addition, barriers related to public health funding for public health researchers and professionals of color can also include White fragility, racial bias, and epistemological ignorance from predominantly White decision makers 1. In state and local health departments, public health professionals of color work in primarily administrative and clerical positions compared with their White counterparts, who hold majority public health science positions 2.…”

“…1 In addition, barriers related to public health funding for public health researchers and professionals of color can also include White fragility, racial bias, and epistemological ignorance from predominantly White decision makers. 1 In state and local health departments, public health professionals of color work in primarily administrative and clerical positions compared with their White counterparts, who hold majority public health science positions. 2 Furthermore, when it comes to career development in local and state health departments, non-Hispanic Whites are more likely to hold supervisory or managerial positions than public health professionals of color.…”

“…For instance, when comes to funding for public health research, Black scientists are less likely than their White counterparts to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health 1. This is because Black scientists are more likely to develop research projects that address structural-level health determinants compared with individual health issues 1. In addition, barriers related to public health funding for public health researchers and professionals of color can also include White fragility, racial bias, and epistemological ignorance from predominantly White decision makers 1.…”