The 2021 OPEN Academy, Connecting for Collective Action to Advance Equity and Systems Change, will be held on June 23 – 25, with pre-conference offerings on June 22, and optional webinars to “set the stage” the week of June 14.

This Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) event will provide a wide range of opportunities to build the collective capacity of agents of social change, advance oral health for all, and deepen an understanding of the impact of structural racism on all people. The 2021 OPEN Academy will build on last year’s OPEN Academy learnings around anti-racism, and will include a mix of capacity-building workshops that reflect the current challenges and realities of OPEN members and other oral health and equity stakeholders nationwide.

Exciting opportunities will include:

• Nationally renowned keynote speakers explore the history and impact of racism on each of us; demonstrate the intersection between racism and the political landscape; and discuss how individuals sometimes support policies to the detriment of their own health and well-being. We will have the honor of hearing from author and advocate Heather McGhee, who recently published The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, and Jonathan Metzl, professor and author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland.
• Choice of a free e-book edition of either of the above books.
• Numerous opportunities to connect and collaborate with leaders, advocates, clinicians, and others working in communities, states, and nationally to advance equitable oral health.
• Time spent crafting specific action steps we will take as a Network to achieve oral health systems change goals through 2025.
• And many more unique and exciting sessions currently in design!