The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program cohort participants began this journey with the courageous inquiry of personal and professional biases, impacting how they view themselves and others. They explored how to collectively influence others to create communities rooted in resilience and healing. We are grateful for this inaugural cohort, who collaboratively helped to shape and refine the fellow program to ensure leaders are empowered to mobilize themselves and others to create positive change.
The Pilot Program
The EGL Fellow program development followed more than a year of co-producing the EGL concept with leaders from around the country. Through focused dialogues, CBHL sought to understand experiences, needs, and barriers to advancing health equity in organizations and communities.
This feedback was used to inform the fellow program content and structure, which included 1) Curriculum, to expand knowledge and build experience across program competencies, or Principles of Change, 2) Facilitation, to foster a safe space for collaboration, 3) Mentorship, to give and receive group and individualized leadership support, and 4) Collaboration, to learn by doing through community-driven, meaningful collaborative projects.
Meet the 2022-2023 Fellows
The 2022-2023 Cohort completed the fellow program in January 2023, and are continuing to work together via the EGL alumni learning collaborative.
The Shared Vision
The 2022 cohort developed a shared vision for their time together:
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Program Fellows envision a behavioral health system where all individuals attain wellness, where everyone has a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible and that no one is left out from achieving this potential.
Through the EGL Fellow Program, we will do this by: Supporting and growing one another through shared time/space/stories and histories. We will empower each other and our communities to be change agents for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging; allowing our actions to speak louder than our words and be socially just. We make an intentional commitment to breaking down systems of oppression and behavioral health disparities.
Principles of Change
Participants gained knowledge and experience in equity-grounded leadership competencies, or Principles of Change.
An equity grounded leader:
Collaborative Projects
One of the most impactful components of the EGL program is the creation and implementation of collaborative projects to improve equity in behavioral health systems and services in Fellows’ organizations, communities, and/or regions. Fellows worked as teams or individually to design and implement these projects, with the support of project advisors and an evaluation team.
Evaluation Results
Fellows’ growth during the program was measured by a 14-item outcome survey at mid- and post-program, and reflected a statistically significant improvement across all outcomes, demonstrating the program achieved the desired results.
Webinar Recording
In this webinar, we shared the journey to co-produce the EGL Fellow Program; explored the Principles of Change for Equity-Grounded Leaders; and celebrate examples of equity-grounded leadership in action.
Program Supports
Fellows engaged in an estimated 150 hours of guided and self-directed program content. This included 42 hours of full cohort meetings where fellows participated in facilitated dialogue, heard from subject matter experts, and engaged in time for self-reflection. They met with project advisors monthly, received individualized coaching, and engaged in a variety of optional or self-paced learning opportunities tailored to their individual or project goals.
The Project Team
The EGL Project Team models equity-grounded leadership and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the development and implementation of the Fellow Program. Their approach is person-centered, recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and acknowledges that individual leaders have different experiences, abilities, and needs.
Crystal L. Brandow, PhD
Program Development
Dr. Brandow has been working in the behavioral health field for over a decade, including in well-being and wellness; trauma, healing, and resilience; identity, culture, and bias; and social justice. She has served in several positions elevating equity in the behavioral health space. Her interests include broader, interdisciplinary topics related to public health communication, population health, and health disparities. Dr. Brandow centers her work around Wellness First, and aims to bring an authentic, impactful, innovative voice to behavioral health.
Ebony Chambers
Curriculum and Facilitation
Ms. Chambers has over 18 years of experience working with issues of social justice, equity, education, mental health and diversity. She is a speaker, educator, and workshop leader who has worked extensively throughout the United States and has served nationally and locally as an advocate and activist for access to care and the elimination of the stigma of mental illness for underserved and unserved communities. Her passion is community engagement and empowerment, equity, and working with leaders to achieve this mission.
The Evaluation Team
The Equity-Grounded Leadership (EGL) Evaluation Team, through TriWest Group, LLC, have expertise and years of experience operationalizing equity through systems assessments, program improvement, and outcomes and process evaluation. They supported program development as an external evaluator and served as a consultant to the EGL fellows on the quest to take measurable action to create equitable systems.
The Project Advisors
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program Project Advisors support subgroups of Fellows by advising on various elements of their collaborative learning projects. Advisors bring diverse backgrounds, professional experiences, and systems level expertise; and have graciously offered time to support fellows in the development and implementation of projects designed to advance equity and anti-racism in their organizations, communities, or regions.
The Coaches
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program coaches support Fellows by providing one-on-one coaching tailored to individual leadership goals. We are proud to introduce you to the EGL coaches, who help guide Fellows on their journey to courageous inquiry of personal and professional biases that impact how one views themself and others.
Development Team
In addition to the Project and Evaluation Team, there were a number of other partners that supported the development of the EGL Fellow Program. We are grateful for the support of our partners who helped lead the way in the development of the EGL Fellow Program.
The Founding Funding Partners
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program Founding Funding Partners recognize that the current systems are unjust. They committed resources to develop a program to empower leaders to mobilize themselves and others to create positive change. We are grateful for their support of this critical initiative!
The Supporting Partners
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program Supporting Partners understand the importance of collective influence to create communities rooted in resilience. They committed time, expertise, leadership and/or pilot cohort participation to ensure all voices are included. We are grateful for their support!
The Advisory Committee
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program Advisory Committee was created as a standing committee of the CBHL Board of Directors, and serves as an advisory body and accountability partner in the development of the Fellow Program. We are proud to introduce you to members of the Advisory Committee, each of whom lead with influence and from a position of love and humility to guide this important work.
The Workgroup
The Equity-Grounded Leadership Fellow Program Workgroup was created to support the Project Team by providing subject matter expertise and guidance in the development of specific components of the Fellow Program. Workgroup members bring diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expertise; and graciously offered their time to help develop transformative leadership solutions to dismantle the status quo.
