AMSA Activism Updates
Advocating effectively for yourself as a student, for your future patients, and for your communities can seem like an impossible undertaking. There’s so much in the world that needs change, and it can be hard to know where to start. We’re kicking off a series of AMSA Activism Updates this year led by our 2020 AMSA-KP Education and Advocacy Fellow, Mattie Renn, with the support of our leaders across all of the various AMSA Action Committees and Campaigns.
We’re hosting prestigious speakers with a wide variety of expertise in order to bring you the information that you need to be an effective advocate and activist. See past sessions below, and sign up for updates to receive notice of upcoming discussions.
Next Update
Social Justice is Public Health, with Daphne Frias
Wednesday, July 8, 5-6 PM ET
Daphne Frias is a 22-year-old youth activist. She is unapologetically Latina. Daphne has Cerebral Palsy, and uses a wheelchair to ambulate. She is fiercely proud to be a loud champion for the disabled community.
She got her start shortly after the Parkland shooting by busing 100+ students from her college campus to the nearest March For Our Lives (MFOL) event. In August of 2019, she was appointed as the NY State Director for March For Our Lives.
Through her work with MFOL, she became passionate about increasing youth voter turnout amongst 18-29 year-olds. As a result, she created her own non-profit called Box The Ballot (BTB), which aims to harness the power of absentee ballots. By partnering with students on college campuses, BTB was able to collect nearly 470,000 absentee ballots in the 2018 midterms.
Fighting the climate crisis is something she is equally as passionate about. Born and raised in West Harlem, NYC, she has seen how minority communities are disproportionally affected by climate change. Having been an official spokesperson from the global climate strikes on September 20th, she has no intention of backing down until the health of our earth is secure.
Her passion for advocacy, propelled her to run for county committee women of Assembly District 70, Election District 80 in West Harlem. In June of 2019, Daphne won her election and continues to work hard to represent her constituents.
In the spring of 2019, she was appointed as one of the North American Regional Focal Points for Sustainable Development Goal 16 at the U.N. Major Group for Children and Youth. In this position, She works to highlight and represent the voice of her fellow youth and the work they are doing to become pivotal peacemakers.
Currently, she serves as the Partner Outreach Director of SafeBAE, an organization that empowers Middle and High Schoolers to end dating violence; through, education, national chapter networks, and their innovative local summits. She currently supervises the Youth Outreach Coordinator, as well as working diligently to create diverse partnerships to push the movement forward.
Previous Updates
Racial Inequity in American Healthcare
A panel of doctors met virtually on June 17 to discuss various topics related to racial inequity in healthcare, including social determinants of health, unconscious bias […]