BCH Black Caucus

WHO WE ARE

The mission of the BCH Black Caucus is to help foster a hospital climate and culture of unity, equity, and inclusion. The group will serve as a resource for advancing the social and cultural growth among African American care providers and staff through outreach, mentoring, networking, community service, and enrichment activities. In collaboration with our counterparts in San Francisco, hospital leadership, the BCH DEI/AR Council and other affinity groups, our goals include:

To attract and sustain a workforce that is maximally responsive to the communities that we serve
To create a safe space to speak freely about institutional inequities at BCH
To develop and cultivate career growth opportunities for our staff

EVENTS

Check back soon for our list of various events

SEE US PORTRAIT PROJECT

See Us Portrait Project

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. holiday 2021, we launched the “See Us” portrait project. Organized by the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Black Caucus, the project features portraits of our Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) colleagues across our campus to celebrate the diversity that makes our community strong.

Our goal to create a sense of belonging for our patients and staff by enhancing diversity, inclusion, racial justice, and health equity. This is a continuation of the important work we started through our DEI Council in 2020. We encourage everyone to think about how we can leverage our resources to advance this important work.

The portrait series was launched on the OPC digital donor wall in the Oakland campus on January 14, 2021, followed by the installation of framed portraits throughout our Oakland campus.

The See Us Project Mission Bay was launched in 2022, featuring inspirational portraits of BCH San Francisco BIPOC staff and providers. The goal of this project is to uplift, encourage, and celebrate our underrepresented BIPOC colleagues who are dedicated members of our organization and are nominated by staff. We also want to create a piece that reflects the diversity of our incredible team, while inspiring our community and potential healthcare workers of the future.

See Us Portrait Project OAK See Us Portrait Project SF

Click HERE to view the webinar held on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.

BLACK HISTORY AT BCH

Founded in 1968, The Black Caucus serves as an instrument of change, community building, and professional support. As the oldest culturally-based affinity group in the UC System, the Black Caucus is built on a foundation of social justice advocacy. During the Civil Rights Movement Black workers at UCSF, known as the "basement people" because of their disparate working conditions, went on strike to advocate for change. The Janitors Strike at UCSF was the catalyst for institutional change that resulted in recruitment and retention efforts for historically underrepresented students, faculty, and staff. Current leaders of the Black Caucus strive to uphold the legacy of our founding members.

The BCH (Benioff Children’s Hospital) Black Caucus is a combined Oakland/San Francisco chapter of the larger UCSF Black Caucus established in 1968 from the direct action of UCSF staff who advocated for change. Our BCH Black Caucus was formed in 2020 by Stephanie Brown and Abdur Shemsu, for the same reason.

Black History Month Factsheet

Ella Mae Ferneil

First African American Registered Nurse in CA Hired by Children's Hospital Oakland

Moments of Solidarity

The BCH community came together to reflect on a country where Black lives mean so little that violent killing after violent killing has become a norm and where African Americans are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For African Americans this moment is only a convergence of all of the racial violence, police brutality, health disparities, wealth gap and lack of access to education that has been the very fabric of the U.S. for 400 years.

BCH hosted 3 town halls on Colliding Pandemics: Loss, Grief & Race during COVID-19. At 3:30 pm on June 3, 2020, both BCH Oakland and Mission Bay campuses took a moment to reflect and express solidarity on the current events involving the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless other African Americans.

VIDEOS - Black History at BCH