Igniting Hope Conference (UB Now)

For years, the Igniting Hope conference has brought community members, advocates, health professionals and others together to share actionable ideas promoting health equity in Western New York. 

Speakers from across the country have delivered plenary talks on critical matters of health, equity, and social and environmental justice. 

This year’s conference reimagined its format.

“In past years we’ve welcomed nationally recognized speakers and had breakout groups. Today we’re going to do things a little bit different in that you are the invited experts,” conference organizer Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, told participants. “The goal is to develop a strategic plan to improve health outcomes in Buffalo in our community. And it’s a plan that’s not just a plan on paper; it’s a plan of action.”

Titled “Saving Ourselves: Implementing a Community Plan for Health Equity,” the eighth annual conference took place Sept. 20 in the M&T Auditorium at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Leaders from the university and the Jacobs School welcomed attendees. “Health inequity is a problem that we all can address, regardless of our field or specialty,” said President Satish K. Tripathi. “Today’s conference gives us an important opportunity to expand our knowledge and to use that knowledge to make change.”

“This conference has grown every year, and it’s been a powerful shared journey to create a healthier community,” added Allison Brashear, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School.

Brashear noted the pressing need to address the high rates of chronic disease and limited access to care in the communities surrounding the Jacobs School. “These challenges remind us why our role here is so important and why this conference, and the work that will be generated out of this conference, matters.”

Recently appointed as director of UB’s Community Health Equity Research Institute, Heather M. Gardiner, professor of family medicine and Carl V. Granger Endowed Chair in Health Equity, also welcomed attendees.

To reinforce the event’s focus on participant knowledge, the Rev. George F. Nicholas, CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, invited audience members to turn to one another and say, “neighbor, you have the answer.”

His message set the tone for a broader discussion on social determinants of health — the conditions in which people live, learn, work and age. To share different perspectives, a panel of leaders from various local organizations convened at the conference.

The panel included Asantewa Holley, chief operating officer of Northland Workforce Training Center; Allana Krolikowksi, chief medical officer of Jericho Road Community Health Center; Amun Ra, CEO of AHR Development; Samina Raja, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, and principal investigator of the UB Food Lab; and Tara Schafer, executive director of Literacy Buffalo Niagara.

The conference also featured interactive breakout sessions to formulate ideas and solutions to several key social determinants of health.

Participants in these sessions discussed how housing shapes health, access to primary care and factors keeping people from getting care, expanding availability of healthy and nourishing food, workforce development and employment pathways, and literacy and education as drivers of health.

After these brainstorming sessions, large sheets of paper bearing the handwritten ideas and notes generated by participants hung from the foyer’s walls. Attendees then placed stickers next to ideas they supported, indicating some of the most promising solutions to address health disparities.

These ideas, and the recurring themes they contain, will serve as a framework for strategic planning and taking action to advance health equity in the region.

Prior to the conference’s day-long events on Saturday, virtual sessions focused on social determinants of health were held. The conference also hosted a community day family event on Sept. 19 at nearby Martin Luther King Park, with some 300 community members attending. 

The Igniting Hope conference is sponsored by the Jacobs School, the School of Public Health and Health Professions, the Community Health Equity Research Institute and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Community sponsors include the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, the Office of Health Equity of the Erie County Department of Health and the Clementine Gold Group, among others.