Law can be a powerful tool for advancing equity across a number of domains
However, those individuals and communities with the greatest need for legal resources often have the least access, thereby losing opportunities to enforce existing rights or advance new ones. We can correct for this inequity by equipping Fellows with the knowledge and tools to advocate within and for their communities.
More than 80% of people living with dementia or neurodegenerative disorders (NDD) depend on a non-professional care partner or family member for support and care.
Even before COVID-19, more than 90% of NDD care partners experienced a significant burden and higher levels of loneliness and social isolation compared to non-carers. Given that data is essential to eliciting action from governments, care agencies and the community, this group of Fellows investigated the significant secondary impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing on the mental well-being and care burden on care-givers, many of whom are older and physically vulnerable themselves.
"COVID-19 tremendously impacts dementia care, specifically carers’ mental health and burden. The Atlantic Institute funds contributed to understanding the carers’ burden globally, and facilitated the collaboration among Atlantic Fellows from different countries."
Yaohua Chen, Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health
For more than six months, the Fellows brainstormed virtually to draft their blueprint, ahead of sharing it with other Fellows also working to disseminate access to legal advocacy resources. In November 2019, the four Fellows then convened for the Rights Literacy learning and connection workshop at the University of California - Hastings College of Law and UC San Francisco. There, they worked together on a concrete blueprint for building rights engagement within and outside of the Atlantic Fellows community.
Connection and collaboration to brainstorm solutions. Workshop with human rights and civil justice experts at UC Hastings College of Law. Analyzing and expanding on the group’s initial outcomes. Which included a logic model and strategic outreach plan. The group determined that engaging additional Fellows was an important next step in addition to creating a roadmap for a network of Fellows to access and distribute legal resources.
Connection and collaboration to brainstorm solutions. Workshop with human rights and civil justice experts at UC Hastings College of Law. Analyzing and expanding on the group’s initial outcomes. Which included a logic model and strategic outreach plan. The group determined that engaging additional Fellows was an important next step in addition to creating a roadmap for a network of Fellows to access and distribute legal resources.
After this intensive and iterative process, the group reached a design for a roadmap: a community of Atlantic Fellows equipped to accelerate and scale rights engagement globally. Their goal: to empower individuals and communities to address the many urgent crises of our time.
The group’s next objective is to identify additional Fellows who are inclined to this area of work followed by a needs assessment to determine the kind of outputs this project might produce to support the wider Atlantic Fellows community.
Health Equity in Southeast Asia
Health Equity US + Global
Racial Equity
Social Equity
Health Equity in South Africa
Equity in Brain Health
Social and Economic Equity
130 Fellows, 7 global Atlantic programs. Together, these leaders catalyze meaningful change around the world. Over four days in July 2019, 130 Atlantic Fellows from all seven global Atlantic programs participated in the inaugural annual Convening of Atlantic Fellows in Oxford. The event focused on catalytic conversations in leadership and equity with the overarching goal of Fellows making meaningful connections across their diverse cultures, languages and disciplines.
Health Equity in Southeast Asia
Health Equity US + Global
Racial Equity
Social Equity
Health Equity in South Africa
Equity in Brain Health
Social and Economic Equity
Leadership development is a $366 billion industry — an amount that could solve global poverty many times over — yet its ethnocentric and academic approach is largely ineffective. The paradox of spending billions on leadership development, instead of investing those funds directly to resolve the problems such programs endeavor to resolve, inspired us to begin the significant and complex journey of changing the narrative.
Equity in Brain Health
Eastern Mediterranean societies are adversely impacted by the global brain health crisis. The East Mediterranean Brain Health Initiative promotes equitable access to essential resources, including education, early detection, preventative healthcare, and long-term care services. Atlantic Fellows collaborated across borders and disciplines, leveraging existing networks and expertise in the East Mediterranean region to promote fairer, more equitable societies for people living with dementia.
Equity in Brain Health
Social and Economic Equity
Loneliness is a silent killer. Even deadlier in a post-pandemic world of increased isolation. 90% of caregivers of persons with dementia suffer from the burden, including higher levels of loneliness and social isolation. A group of Atlantic Fellows took initiative to investigate care burdens, loneliness and social isolation in care partners/families of people with neurodegenerative disorders, informing COVID-19 responses internationally.
Social Equity
Health Equity US + Global
Healthcare workers on the frontlines must be able to speak up for their patients’ needs—as well as their own. However, many lack the storytelling abilities they need to demand equitable treatment and change policies in their disenfranchised communities. Three Atlantic Fellows formed the empowering disenfranchised communities with storytelling group to develop a toolkit for health workers at the front line of COVID-19.
Health Equity in Southeast Asia
Health Equity US + Global
Social Equity
Health Equity in South Africa
Equity in Brain Health
Social and Economic Equity
The global movement of displaced people is a defining feature of our times. Yet most of the narratives surrounding it are trapped in the language of vilification and crisis, limiting our capacity to engage with the issue humanely. In 2019, a group of Atlantic Fellows came together to create a space to understand and engage with the common humanity inherent in the stories of the displaced.
Health Equity in Southeast Asia
Health Equity US + Global
Equity in Brain Health
Rights awareness and legal resources are critical to supporting communities that are disproportionately impacted by societal inequities, especially in the criminal justice system. A cohort of four Atlantic Fellows collaborated on how to promote access to this vital information. As leaders in their communities, Fellows can promote awareness and access to legal resources to those who need it most.
Health Equity in Southeast Asia
Health Equity US + Global
Lack of access to mental health care for young Filipinos, particularly in remote areas, is deadly. Attempted youth suicides and deaths have risen sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is critical to combat social stigma around seeking mental health support and to provide that support, such as suicide prevention programs.Atlantic Fellows in the Philippines collaborated to advance policy reform to improve access to essential life-saving resources.
Neurology Resident, University of Louisville
Associate professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences School of Public Health, Georgia State University
Assistant professor, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; assistant director for Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIANTU); cognitive neurologist
Full professor, University of São Paulo
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