A Letter to the HealthSpark Community

Dear Community and Partners,

I am deeply humbled and honored to serve as HealthSpark's first Director of Equity and Inclusion. With this newly created position, and HealthSpark's commitment and investments in addressing racial equity, we are at a unique inflection point in our history to deeply examine our role in creating a more just and equitable society.

HealthSpark Foundation has taken important steps over the past number of years to understand how best we can create a culture of equity and inclusion, internally and in partnership with our community. This work began with introspection. We began by asking ourselves how our investments, policies, and procedures reflect our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. I had the pleasure of serving as Board Chair during our early internal learning and creation of our Safety Net Resiliency Initiative. As I transition from serving on the Board into this new role, I am dedicated to continuing to support the staff in looking inward and asking the tough questions as it relates to equity and inclusion. Asking these challenging questions will allow us to be best positioned to serve our community and address a legacy of racial injustice by investing in innovative community-driven programming that aims to dismantle institutional racism and improve the health of our community.

As we reflect on Martin Luther King, Jr.  and his lasting imprint and legacy of social justice, I am reminded by how he profoundly articulated that change takes time and that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” At HealthSpark, we know that this work takes time. We have to balance being patient while being bold and aggressive in seeking sustainable change in creating a resilient safety net. I look forward to learning from you and working with you in creating a more equitable, just, and healthy Montgomery County.

Read more about Ms. Onyekere here.