Critical Futures

Katy Youker, Director of the Economic Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee since August 2021, leads impact litigation, policy advocacy, and education for Black and minority workers’ rights in employment and healthcare. Previously, Katy spent nearly two decades at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid representing low-paid workers, including migrant farmworkers, in state and federal court cases involving wage theft, discrimination, and human trafficking. She has served on the State Bar of Texas Labor and Employment Section executive council, local government committees, and nonprofit boards of directors, including as a founding board member of Border Workers United, the only workers’ center on the Texas-Mexico border.

Highlighted Work:

• Webinar: “Race, Artificial Intelligence, and Systemic Inequalities”
• Report: “Hidden in Plain Sight: Revealing Health Disparities through Equitable Data Collection During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
• Amicus Brief: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org.
• Comments on Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 0945-AA17: “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities”

Ben D’Avanzo works on access to health care and healthy lives for low-income immigrant communities. Through advocacy, relationship-building, and analysis, he advances policies that enhance the health of immigrant families and works to block those that bring harm, with a focus on federal legislation and executive action.

Highlighted Work:

• Special Report: “Reducing Barriers, Improving Outcomes: Using Federal Opportunities to Expand Health Care Access for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency”
• Special Report: “DACA Recipients’ Access to Health Care: 2023 Report”
• Webinar: “Improving Language Access in Federal Programs: What Is the State of Play?”
  

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that strives to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities.

Website: https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/

Established in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is one of the leading organizations in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of immigrants with low income.

Website: https://www.nilc.org/

The Institute for Healing Justice & Equity (the Institute or IHJE) aims to eliminate disparities caused by systemic oppression and to improve individual and community health and well-being through systems change and deep community partnership. As part of these core goals, IHJE created a panel of content experts, community advocates, and organizations called the Anti-Racism Consortium. Each consortium member has a history of working to:

• develop and advocate for anti-racist health policy;
• address the root causes of health inequities; and
• develop programs and interventions that address multiple levels of medical racism, structural racism in health and the health care system.

In the Critical Futures podcast series, Consortium members describe their work and perspectives related to anti-racist health policy as well as structural racism in the healthcare system. These interviews are also conducted with a community partner that the members have worked alongside — with the goal of highlighting how to deeply work with community in a way that shares power and that moves us all towards liberation.