Get Into ‘Good Trouble’ With the Activist Lab.
Get Into ‘Good Trouble’ With the Activist Lab
A catalyst for bold public health practice, the Activist Lab at SPH equips individuals with the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to fight inequities and create conditions for a world in which all people can reach their full potential.
Knowledge is power, and in the field of public health, knowing how to create a healthier, more just world for all is often not enough. For sustainable, effective changes to be made, this knowledge must be turned into action.
Enter the Activist Lab at the School of Public Health, a catalyst for bold public health practice created to equip individuals with the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to fight inequities and create conditions for a world in which all people can reach their full potential.
“At SPH, our practice, education, and research have advocacy and activism ingrained in them,” says Craig Andrade (SPH’06,’11), associate dean for practice and director of the Activist Lab. “The Activist Lab really works to complement and uplift this work and bring forward opportunities to engage in public health practice through an advocacy and social justice lens.”
Taking the reins from Harold Cox, associate professor of community health sciences and founder of the Activist Lab, Andrade stepped into his role as the new director at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and just one week after the murder of George Floyd. The magnitude of the moment presented many challenges and opportunities, but Andrade chose to focus on the opportunities and move forward with a reimagined vision for the Activist Lab: to believe in a world in which no injustice goes unchallenged.
“The first iteration of the Activist Lab laid the groundwork to make sure that we can see and understand what is happening in the world locally, nationally, and globally right now,” says Andrade. “The world is uniquely ready for this moment; many eyes are more open, clear, and focused on injustice. We’ve been doing this work for a while, but we know more now than we have before, so it really is the perfect time to walk with our community members, tap into what is important to them, and learn from their many diverse experiences in the world.”
The Activist Lab team sees the diverse backgrounds and lived experiences that each member of the SPH community brings to the table as an asset, and they hope to uplift and honor these differences in a way that creates authentic partners, enriches both the school and the future public health workforce, and pushes public health forward.
“There is no one recipe for how to do public health practice,” says Emily Barbo, assistant director of the Activist Lab. “We really want to lean into people’s experiences and help our community—especially our students—discover what public health practice means for them and help them navigate how to step into their practice bravely and authentically.”
In November 2020, the team convened virtual talking circles with students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners to gather feedback on how, given the current moment, the Activist Lab could best support them in their public health practice.
From students voicing their eagerness to be seen and have their voices heard and faculty being excited about training the next generation of public health practitioners to alumni showing their investment in the future success of the school and their colleagues, these conversations made clear that the SPH community is ready to get involved and get to work.
The feedback the Activist Lab team received was unlike any they had heard before, and Barbo believes this was because they started asking the right questions, informed by what they learned in previous years. “Our calling people in allows them to really see themselves in our work. When we first started the Activist Lab, there was a specific vision of what an activist looked like—which was a bit othering for some folks. We are working hard to shift this perspective and become more inclusive in our work to show that though activism may look different for everyone, anyone can be an activist.”
The Activist Lab team hopes to motivate and engage the SPH community in their practice work this fall through their programming. They are currently working on an activist meet-and-greet series, which will bring new voices and advocacy organizations to campus to share their experiences with advocacy work across communities and build connections with the school community.
They will also continue to offer Activist Fellowships and Impact Grants (previously known as Activist Bucks) for students, as well as bring in activists in residence to campus to continue to build partnerships and enrich opportunities for the SPH community to learn and grow in their advocacy work.
“Public health work is often very heavy,” says Caroline McQuade, operations associate in the Activist Lab and an incoming MPH student, “and I hope that our programming allows people to engage with this heavy work in a way that is meaningful to them, but also in a way that brings joy and excitement back into their work.”
Over the next year, the Activist Lab team also plans to continue to expand their network of collaborators, public health practitioners, and activists beyond just South Boston.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have become more accustomed to Zoom and other technologies that have allowed us to connect in ways we never really did before,” says Barbo. “We want to see this as an opportunity to continue to do the work in our backyard, but also expand our portfolio of practice opportunities throughout the Commonwealth, the country, and even the world.”
In all that they do, the Activist Lab team hopes to help people tap into what bold public health practice looks like for them and prepare students to step into the workforce with a transformed perspective on public health.
“Whether it is building just communities, being agents of change, or taking a stand against injustice, being bold in your practice means breaking the mold and misbehaving in ways that push boundaries,” says Andrade.
“The Activist Lab is part of every element of our school community and mission as an organization,” says Barbo, “and we really hope that every member of our community sees themselves in our work and comes to us to learn, engage, and get in good trouble.”
Get to know the new Activist Lab team and learn more about their vision for public health practice at their upcoming Open House events, virtually and in-person, on Wednesday, September 15.