Educational leaders and healthcare professionals from South Los Angeles met on the CSUDH campus in September to sign the Compton Community Health Professions Partnership. The initiative will promote healthcare careers among secondary, undergraduate, and graduate students, and address persistent disparities in healthcare outcomes for local communities of color.

Representatives from Compton Unified School District, Compton College, Charles R. Drew University, St. John’s Community Health, and Kedren Health joined Assemblymember Mike Gipson (CA-65) and CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham for a signing ceremony at the Leo F. Cain Library.

“What we’re setting up through this partnership is a gateway for young people to achieve their goals in medicine and science,” said Gipson. “We want them to be able to get educated and do their residencies here.”

Creating a progression for students to go from secondary school to community college to four-year colleges to graduate schools to employers is a unique endeavor, said David M. Carlisle, president and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. “This is where the future of health and healthcare is going to start for the communities of South Los Angeles, for Greater Compton, and for all the communities around them,” Carlisle said.

For Jim Mangia of St. John’s Community Health, the partnership is a major step toward recognizing racism as a public health issue. “We need African American and Latinx doctors treating the population of South Los Angeles and Compton if we want to address this issue more effectively,” he said.

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