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On January 30, 2014, Starla Blanks, MBA, a Graduate Certificate in Public Health student in the School of Community and Population Health, delivered the keynote address for UNE’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic visit to UNE. The speech was titled “Health Empowerment Through Community Engagement.” 

Blanks is the director of Health Promotion and Policy with Morehouse School of Medicine’s Community Voices: Health Care for the Underserved in Atlanta, Georgia. In this position, she focuses on health equity and how policy can impact health disparities.

Students, faculty, and staff from UNE’s graduate health professional programs attended the event along with Community Health Outreach Workers (CHOW) who work in the city of Portland providing care for the community’s underserved populations, including immigrants and refugees.

Blanks said, “All people have a right to health,” adding that people from the same community are treated differently when it comes to access to good care and that a person’s income, education, and housing are all potential barriers.

She encouraged the promotion of health equity through community engagement, culturally competent interventions, and community-wide polices, noting that policies including economic, child care, and transportation all impact access to care. She said that health empowerment can arise by increasing access to items that promote better health such as fresh fruits and vegetable and safe walking trails.

Martin Luther King, Jr. visited St. Francis College, now UNE, in May of 1964.