In November 2007, NKI received funding from the NYS Office of Mental Health to establish a Center of Excellence in Culturally Competent Mental Health. Under new leadership in November 2015, the Center was renamed the Center for Research on Cultural & Structural Equity in Behavioral Health (C-CASE). This name change signals a refinement of our mission, which recognizes that psychiatric/behavioral health care has been segregated from primary medical care since its inception. Our desire is now to create whole person primary health care, which carries with it a greater emphasis on social determinants and processes.
C-CASE faculty have created an educational video addressing systemic racism and strategies to counter it. Our Racist America is a 'call to action' video presentation that discusses: (1) white privilege; (2) individual-institutional-structural racism against Black Americans; (3) historical and present-day racism embedded in law enforcement; and (4) the economic, social, physical, and emotional harm these tactics have caused Black people in America, spanning centuries. View it here.