FEATURED LEADERS
Our Featured Leaders are Early Childhood Community stakeholders who work to make Oakland smarter and stronger. They are parents/caregivers, providers, educators, and collaborators.
Jamaica Sowell, Director of Programs (Roots Community Health)
A passion for creating true community health drives Jamaica Sowell’s work – from guiding programs and policy at Roots Community Health to co-chairing the OSSS Policy and Advocacy committee. Earlier this year, Jamaica collaborated in bringing OSSS’ 10 Promising Practices in Early Learning for Black Boys to staff at Roots. Below, she shares her perspective on equity, community, and hope in these times.
Roots was a key collaborator in this year’s Community of Practice focused on advancing equity for Black boys in early learning and health care settings. Tell us more about this work.
Previous cohorts for the 10 Promising Practices had been focused on educators, and we wanted to broaden it to include health navigators, school readiness staff, program coordinators and others. It was such a rich learning experience. Participants changed the way they’re developing programming for families to make it more culturally responsive. For us, the bottom line is if you’re able to create the conditions where families are able to focus on their health by removing barriers, then all the better.
How did that kind of learning fit in with what you do at Roots?
At the heart of Roots, we’re a health center and our mission is to uplift those who are impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. We address social determinants of health – transportation, food insecurity, education inequities, and more. We know that at the root of all this is racism, and right above that is poverty. It’s why at Roots we do both policy and program work because without policy change, programmatic efforts alone keep us on the same cycle of inequity.
What got you into this work personally?
Social justice. I would have to say growing up in the church, that was my start in supporting community and in learning at a young age to help others. I grew up in the Bay Area. My mother was a younger mother with 3 kids and she struggled. She put us voluntarily into foster homes; my younger sister was adopted out, I was in foster care from about 4 to 9. My brother and I eventually were adopted by a family in Pacifica.
How does your history impact your work with families today?
Even at a very young age, I don’t think I knew what Medi-Cal was, but I knew I was being treated differently. I knew what food stamps were because my biological parents used them. Back when you couldn’t tear the food stamp book because then they wouldn’t take it.
And I learned all about the system of foster care. Growing up in foster care in the early 80s, it’s unheard of that you and your biological brother are in the same foster home, especially as African Americans. How it impacts my work today is that I’ve seen all the barriers, and I always want to be in a position of listening, listening to a person’s lived experience and their story continues to guide my work.
You mention food stamps and Medi-Cal, both of which are at risk right now. What gives you hope?
What gives me hope about young kids in Oakland, is that all of us, Roots, BANANAS, Lotus Bloom, and the other wonderful organizations in OSSS, we all have a goal, and it’s the same shared goal. Within OSSS we really are all working to protect families and children in Oakland.
Roots is acting in this environment as we always have, centering those who are most marginalized. When you lead with that mindset of uplifting those who are impacted by systemic inequity and poverty, you’re always going to uplift and center that mission, so in theory you should always be on track.
I have many community residents say to me, Ms. Jamaica, thank you so much for the workshop we put on, so those are the moments when I know we are doing exactly what we need to be doing. It is the community saying “job well done.”
This is generational work that I’m doing. I might not see every outcome with all I have a hand in, but I trust and believe the work I’m currently doing will grow into a more equitable future, and I’m completely okay with that.
Roots was a key collaborator in this year’s Community of Practice focused on advancing equity for Black boys in early learning and health care settings. Tell us more about this work.
Previous cohorts for the 10 Promising Practices had been focused on educators, and we wanted to broaden it to include health navigators, school readiness staff, program coordinators and others. It was such a rich learning experience. Participants changed the way they’re developing programming for families to make it more culturally responsive. For us, the bottom line is if you’re able to create the conditions where families are able to focus on their health by removing barriers, then all the better.
How did that kind of learning fit in with what you do at Roots?
At the heart of Roots, we’re a health center and our mission is to uplift those who are impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. We address social determinants of health – transportation, food insecurity, education inequities, and more. We know that at the root of all this is racism, and right above that is poverty. It’s why at Roots we do both policy and program work because without policy change, programmatic efforts alone keep us on the same cycle of inequity.
What got you into this work personally?
Social justice. I would have to say growing up in the church, that was my start in supporting community and in learning at a young age to help others. I grew up in the Bay Area. My mother was a younger mother with 3 kids and she struggled. She put us voluntarily into foster homes; my younger sister was adopted out, I was in foster care from about 4 to 9. My brother and I eventually were adopted by a family in Pacifica.
How does your history impact your work with families today?
Even at a very young age, I don’t think I knew what Medi-Cal was, but I knew I was being treated differently. I knew what food stamps were because my biological parents used them. Back when you couldn’t tear the food stamp book because then they wouldn’t take it.
And I learned all about the system of foster care. Growing up in foster care in the early 80s, it’s unheard of that you and your biological brother are in the same foster home, especially as African Americans. How it impacts my work today is that I’ve seen all the barriers, and I always want to be in a position of listening, listening to a person’s lived experience and their story continues to guide my work.
You mention food stamps and Medi-Cal, both of which are at risk right now. What gives you hope?
What gives me hope about young kids in Oakland, is that all of us, Roots, BANANAS, Lotus Bloom, and the other wonderful organizations in OSSS, we all have a goal, and it’s the same shared goal. Within OSSS we really are all working to protect families and children in Oakland.
Roots is acting in this environment as we always have, centering those who are most marginalized. When you lead with that mindset of uplifting those who are impacted by systemic inequity and poverty, you’re always going to uplift and center that mission, so in theory you should always be on track.
I have many community residents say to me, Ms. Jamaica, thank you so much for the workshop we put on, so those are the moments when I know we are doing exactly what we need to be doing. It is the community saying “job well done.”
This is generational work that I’m doing. I might not see every outcome with all I have a hand in, but I trust and believe the work I’m currently doing will grow into a more equitable future, and I’m completely okay with that.