My name is Stephanie Weldon, and I am honored to take on the responsibility of serving as the new CDPH Deputy Director of the Office of Health Equity. I have been in this role for about four months now. I also serve as the department's Tribal Liaison. It is a very challenging and opportune time to take on Health Equity work. I plan to draw from my professional and lived experience in this role.
I come to this work with a lens and commitment to community engagement and responsiveness, honoring of Tribal Sovereignty, embedding the principles of equity, and working to be efficient/effective government. Being in service to community has always been a core value, as I have been raised in a Tribal and rural community with a large extended family. I am an enrolled citizen of the Yurok Tribe and grew up on the Yurok reservation along the Klamath River in rural Humboldt and Del Norte counties. I have over twenty-three years of health and human services experience in direct and administrative capacities serving marginalized communities, and Tribes. I have utilized some of the services and programs that CDPH funds and I have been a grantee of some of the programs.
I have spent my career working for non-profits, Tribal, county, and state governments to improve systems to be inclusive and responsive to the communities they serve. I began my career working in Tribal Public Health as a Health Promotion Specialist focused on Tobacco policy, education, and youth work and I provided sexual health education to youth and community. I have served in leadership roles, advocating and working in health equity, including serving as the COO of United Indian Health Services, Director of the CDSS Office of Tribal Affairs, Director of Yurok Tribe Health and Human Services, Child Welfare Director and Social Services Director, and Deputy Director roles at the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. I obtained my MSW from Cal Poly Humboldt. I currently serve as a member of the National Indian Child Welfare Board (NICWA), which works to eliminate child abuse and neglect and strengthening families, tribes, and protective laws. I previously served as an advisory member of the CDPH Tribal Health Equity Advisory Group and served on the Humboldt First 5 Commission and other local boards. I am the mother of six children (ranging from ages 30-12) and I am a grandmother of one. I enjoy being outdoors, participating in my culture/community events, and spending time at youth sporting events.
Over the last four months, I have been focused on assessing and working to develop a plan to address priorities of the OHE. It is important to me to build relationships with partners that are doing the work directly with community, especially in this challenging and complex climate. It is especially important to build and strengthen our partnerships with Local Health Jurisdictions, CBOs, and Tribes to achieve health equity. LHJs do impactful and important work in the midst of the current political landscape. The OHE is committed to continuing to build and grow our partnership with LHJ partners. OHE works with community-based organizations and local governmental agencies to ensure that community perspectives and input help to shape a health equity lens in policies and strategic plans, recommendations, and implementation activities.
