In this episode, CSHA Executive Director, Weyling White, talks about what it’s like to be “The Only One in the Room” as Black man in public health and healthcare with our guests Brandon Allison, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Cornell P. Wright, owner of Wrightway Equity Solutions, and Omari Richins, Program Officer for Health Improvement in North Carolina at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Note: Cornell is a member of Care Share's board of directors.
Cornell P. Wright, MPA
Cornell P. Wright, MPA is a subject-matter expert, consultant, advisor, and presenter around the areas of health equity, justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, health disparities, minority health, community engagement and outreach. Wright recently served as the first-ever Chief Health Equity Officer at the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Previously, Wright also served for several years as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Omari Richins
Omari Richins is a Health Improvement program officer at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. He works deeply in community around the state, building relationships across sectors and participating in grantmaking that focuses on improving the health and well-being of residents with low-incomes, communities of color, and areas that have been marginalized. He also works collaboratively with partners and residents to advance the Trust’s Healthy Places NC initiative in rural North Carolina.
Prior to joining the Trust in 2020, Omari served as a community health fellow at the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Alaska where he assisted in managing grants up to $350,000 to respond to community health needs related to COVID-19. He also researched and developed the Mat-Su Youth Homelessness Needs Assessment and managed the evaluation of three public health programs. He developed Photovoice—a community-driven project that gave residents the opportunity to take photos and write captions describing their feelings about health issues—as part of the Mat-Su Borough Community Health Needs Assessment.
Before accepting the Mat-Su Health Foundation fellowship, Omari was the community initiatives assistant planner for WellFlorida Council Inc. where he researched and developed community health assessments and surveys. He also authored the Rural Health Whitepaper focused on health inequities in rural Florida while serving as the rural health advocacy and policy intern at Suwannee River AHEC. In 2019, Omari created a website, The Public Health Millennial, to build community and dialogue among public health professionals and students.
Omari holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Tampa. While in graduate school, he was a member of the Public Health Honor Society and was the president of the Public Health Student Association. Omari grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and completed high school in the Sultanate of Oman. In his free time, he enjoys reading and watching his favorite international soccer teams play. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.