E75: Redistricting in Arizona

We’re here today to dig into a once-in-a-decade opportunity. It goes by the unsexy, easy-to-overlook term “redistricting,” but do not lulled into complacency by it. In a nutshell, this is about creating the boundaries of the geographic areas that each member of Congress, for example, will be representing. It is, in fact, the next key and crucial step after the just-completed 2020 Census count. And the time to jump in and get this process right is – you guessed it – now.

So why, you might be asking, is a health foundation talking about this? That’s easier to answer than it might at first appear, because redistricting has cascading effects on communities’ capacities to be healthy and well. We’re talking about voice, power, and resources – specifically, who’s voices are heard, what community power is reflected in policy decisions, and what resources that support community health are adequately and appropriately allocated to communities. There are no geography lessons in this podcast. Politics are not our interest either. For the partners focused on bringing diverse communities to the redistricting process, this is about people. Representation and voice are core concepts not only of our democracy, but of our health and well-being.

So let’s get to it. It’s time to wrap our heads around something that seems conceptually simple but is practically quite complex, and to understand it today because of how much it matters for Arizonans’ health over the next decade of tomorrows, as of May 17, 2021

Link: Why Redistricting Matters