photo by Agapao Productions
Carrie Bridges Feliz, MPH, is the team lead for Health Disparities & Access to Care at the Rhode Island Department of Health. At the Department of Health, Feliz engages in policy and community-based initiatives intended to improve population health, reduce health disparities and help all people to achieve their optimal state of health. Outside of work, she serves on advisories and boards addressing two passions – health and education policy. A graduate of Duke University and Boston University School of Public Health, Feliz came to Rhode Island in 2004 while serving as a fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What are the opportunities for girls and young women?
In considering the opportunities for girls and young women in the next few years, I can’t help but reflect back on my own upbringing. My parents were strictly focused on academics with me and my three brothers – our only job was to perform well in school, everything else was extra. Through consistent “social marketing” and lots of modeling, my parents succeeded in raising four children who not only achieved in school, but who also demonstrate an intrinsic commitment of service to others.
While my parents deserve the most credit, I know that my successes are also a reflection of the extended family, church members, and neighbors who still encourage me every day, genuinely celebrating every success while also nudging me to aim higher and do more. In short, I know how incredibly blessed I am to have such a strong foundation from which to evaluate life’s options and to feel secure enough to act boldly. By comparison, when I think about the opportunities for girls and young women, I know that our only limitation is our willingness to be nudgers and cheerleaders for our own daughters and neighbors. Our ability to fashion a society in which all of our young women are emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy will determine the breadth of their opportunities.
I see facets of this ideal but achievable society all around me. I taught elementary and middle school girls who made me laugh and cry, sometimes on the same day, at their daily demonstrations of persistence and resilience. As a member of the Board of Directors for Young Voices, I am amazed at the tenacity and wherewithal of the high-school age women with whom I serve. I supervise college and graduate school women as student interns and marvel at their commitment to equity-based work so early in their training. And I am subtly mentored by my girlfriends and colleagues who inspire me through their daily expressions of leadership at home, in the workplace, and in community.
Thankfully, there is a growing recognition that social, economic, and environmental factors determine people’s ability to achieve their full potential. Within the field of public health, we no longer rely on shaming people into changing individual behaviors but rather recognize that collectively, we must re-create policies and systems that protect and promote, not limit the health of whole groups of people.
I have humbly signed the social contract that acknowledges that what I do today, as an individual and in community with others, determines not only my potential, but the potential of the next generation of young women. I get to execute this contract in my day-to-day work, and strive to adhere to it every day of the week. In doing so, and bolstered by all the others who abide by this covenant, we will help the next generation of women define their own opportunities.
