116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
HER Stories: Anne Harris Carter works to solve, raise awareness of Linn County’s health inequities
This story first appeared in HER Stories - Spring 2024, a biannual special section distributed by The Gazette that features stories of Eastern Iowa women who have experienced powerful paths of achievement for themselves, their families and their communities.
Anne Harris Carter works in a building named for her parents. The Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris Public Health Building houses Linn County Public Health — including Harris Carter’s department of one, the Office of Health Equity, in which she serves as the county’s first-ever health equity program manager.
And just what is health equity?
“The simplest definition, I think, is just ensuring that everyone can achieve their best health,” Carter explains. “And we know that there are a number of factors that determine health outcomes. What kind of housing do you have? What sort of access to food and transportation? Your level of economic security. Those things are referred to as social determinants of health in public health lingo. We know there’s plenty of inequity in our society, and so this job is about raising awareness of those gaps, of those inequities.
“How do we measure, how do we collect the data, how do we analyze it, how do we talk about it so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their best health?”
Among the projects and collaborations Carter has launched since stepping into this role is 2022 is a working group that is investigating how racism has impacted mental well-being in the community, and how the local health care system can provide culturally informed care and a sense of social belonging to more people. It’s slow, thoughtful, inclusive work.
“What are narratives that might be healing for our community both to raise awareness that racism does exist and how it impacts daily life?” Carter says. “It impacts not just people who have been marginalized, but it impacts the whole community … I’ve been wrestling with what do we need at this moment in time to be able address healing where it’s needed from the history of racism, as well as present day, and really create a place of belonging.”
Former Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker sees in Carter a rare combination of skills and passions that serve her — and the community by extension — well.
“Anne … enjoyed a stellar career in the corporate sector, while building expertise in the (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) field, before combining all of her experience into a career that merges anti-racism and mental health, for a more holistic approach to public health,” Walker says. “Quite simply put, she is remarkable; a mighty force of nature wound up so neatly in a delicate and refined persona.”
“What makes Anne so effective is the combination of her sharp intellect and unusually high emotional intelligence,” he adds. “This allows Anne the ability to not only see the full dimension of a problem and quickly synthesize a number of workable solutions, but also communicate to a broad range of audiences with a diplomacy and fluency that allows for understanding. Good leaders typically have one of these skill sets; great leaders like Anne have them all.”
Karla Twedt-Ball, president and CEO of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, whole-heartedly agrees with Walker’s assessment of Carter.
“Anne brings a holistic perspective to her work,” Twedt-Ball says. “She comes from a family that is missionally and community oriented. She brings a deep faith perspective to her work. She has high level corporate experience, experience with grassroots activism, and personal experience with all of the issues in which she works and leads. Anne pulls all of that together, putting her whole self into every ounce of her work. She is authentic, passionate, influential and effective.”
Anne Carter (left) of Cedar Rapids presents the 'Who Is My Neighbor' award to Molly Lamb (right) at a celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. The program featured a call-and-response style presentation of artists and community members, and centered around the 2020 recipients of the Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris 'Who Is My Neighbor' Award. Molly Lamb, a teacher at McKinley STEAM Academy, and Haley Cummings, a student at Xavier High School, received the awards. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Anne Harris Carter of Cedar Rapids smiles as she listens to speaker Tamara Marcus speak during the Dr. MLK Day Celebration at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Monday, January 16, 2023. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
Anne Harris Carter of Cedar Rapids speaks at a candlelight vigil for Breonna Taylor at NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Community members spoke about the importance of voting, running for public office and continuing work to end systemic racism. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
And how does Carter feel about working in a building that bears her parents’ names?
“It was really daunting at first. For the first several months, I was like, ‘Gosh, I’ve got to live up to this.’ Sometimes I’d joke, ‘Mom and Dad are watching,’” she says with a laugh. “But now, I’m proud to be here and grateful for my parents’ legacy.
“As much as this building means a lot to me personally and a lot to our family and it’s important to our community, I am reminded every time our group meets — particularly for members of our group who identify as Black or biracial — this building does not necessarily have the same meaning for everybody. And so it is important for me to stay grounded; it’s not about me … This building is named for [my parents] because of their community orientation, and somehow, although I didn’t realize it right away, they passed that on to us … I do feel a responsibility to them and to this community that gave so much to me. There are certainly things in this community that I don’t love, but I’d rather be part of the solution.”
Walker clearly believes Carter is well-positioned to be part of the solution.
“Anne is now in a most critical role, working at the intersection of anti-racism, mental health and public health at the best-in-class Linn County Public Health. She may well represent the greatest force of justice advocacy in the region, and the entire state will be made better through her work,” Walker says.
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