When Nyaradzo Sirewu and Avni Patel saw that Cornell’s Center for Health Equity (CCHEq) was looking for MPH students to build and pilot training that would help anyone take action against racism, they jumped at the opportunity. “After the George Floyd killing, people were reaching out to CCHEq, asking how they could be better allies to Black people,” says Sirewu. Patel adds, “A lot of people turned to systemic policy change as the only way to combat racism in the U.S., and although this is key, it can feel overwhelming to an individual.”

“We learned so much, formulating ways to teach this content,” says Patel, who used to find it challenging to explain racial allyship. “Even my parents used to ask, ‘do you just mean not being a racist?’” she remembers, “but I feel like I can genuinely explain it now, with concrete action steps.” Being a racial ally means “taking the time, as someone from a race with more privilege, to help ensure that others can access the same opportunities you have,” says Sirewu. “We are teaching people to be doers, not just to identify themselves in a certain way.”

In collaboration with CCHEq founder and codirector Dr. Monika Safford, Cornell ’86; MPH Program visiting lecturer Lara Parrilla, Cornell ’99; MPH Program instructional designer Nicole Beaudoin; Weill Cornell Medicine staff; Cornell undergraduate students; and community members, Sirewu and Patel began to build out the training, with funding from a 2021 Curriculum Enhancement Grant from the College of Veterinary Medicine. After their first meeting with the CCHEq team, Sirewu and Patel got to work—diving into literature, reviewing allyship tools from other universities, identifying gaps and best practices, and designing a monitoring and evaluation plan.

The four-module training is structured so that participants first build foundational knowledge of racism in history and as a public health issue, then develop a deeper understanding of allyship and bias, and finally build skills and create a personal action plan. The nine skills participants build toward in the training “are all things people can do to support people of color,” says Sirewu, like nominating people for leadership tasks at work, making introductions to your networks, amplifying and giving credit for ideas, and taking the time to acknowledge privilege.

In the spring of 2022, all first-year MPH students piloted the training and received course credits for providing feedback on all four modules. Overwhelmingly, the feedback was positive. “Knowing my peers wanted this training content made me feel like public health is on the right track,” says Patel. After completing the modules, Sirewu met with all the students in-person to discuss their experiences with the training. “Some of them told me they wanted more content, or that there was a topic we missed,” she says. After making adjustments based on feedback from students and other stakeholders, CCHEq began piloting the training with its members in August.

Sirewu grew up in Zimbabwe, studied international development and public health as an undergraduate, 

and plans to work with developing nations. Before enrolling in the MPH Program, Sirewu interned with an HIV project in Zimbabwe and a community clinic in Honduras.

Patel, who is now a program analyst with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has interned with multiple U.S. national health agencies and an organization for women’s empowerment in India.

Written by Audrey Baker