Industry Health Initiatives

The health of individuals is impacted by factors that extend beyond health care services received in a clinical setting. These factors or social determinants of health – education, shelter, food security, transportation, employment. Included in these determinants are business or industry practices that negatively and disproportionately impact low income communities of color.
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» Cannabis

» Tobacco

» Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Cannabis

The prosecution of illegal cannabis use has disproportionately targeted and resulted in the arrest of Black and Latino individuals and has led to systemic negative impacts of those communities. With the legalization of cannabis, Roots and its partners believe that can reverse those trends.

Emerald New Deal

The Emerald New Deal (END) seeks to create policy change within the City of Oakland that use cannabis business tax revenue from the city’s general fund into a new fund that will re-distribute dollars back into programs that address specific systemic social, economic and racial inequities.

Partners

A diverse collection of public leaders and community based organizations along with Roots are  advocating for END.

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Tobacco

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking in the U.S. causes more than 480,000 deaths annually, including nearly 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. Additionally, more than 16 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease. Tobacco use disproportionately affects minority groups, who have a long history of being targeted by the tobacco industry.

Soldiers Against Tobacco (SAT)

Smoking in multi-unit housing poses serious health threats to children and adults even if no one smokes in their home. In multi-unit housing like apartment buildings and condominiums, secondhand smoke from one unit can move into other units. Smoking in multi-unit housing can also lead to fires, which can have deadly consequences

Partners

  • AATCLC 
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Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or sugary drinks are leading sources of added sugars in the American diet. Frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain/obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney diseases, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay and cavities, and gout, a type of arthritis.Though prevalent in the general population, the levels of sugary drink consumption was the highest among Blacks and Hispanics

Sugar Freedom Project

The Sugar Freedom Project, supported by the California Endowment and Measure HH Funding uses community organizing to help transform Oakland into a healthier, more just place to live for residents most impacted by diabetes, obesity, corporate sugar’s ubiquity, and the soda tax

Partners

  • In-Advance
  • Street Level Health Project
  • Roots Community Health
  • Planting Justice
  • Mandela Partners
  • Nepali & Bhutanese Community Associations
  • Arab Community Associations
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