219: Designing Systems That Move With Communities
In this episode of The Health Disparities Podcast, host Ber‑Henda Williams sits down with Dr. Caira Boggs, Director of the Michigan Public Health Institute’s Center for Health Innovation and Practice and Detroit Health Initiatives. A proud Detroit native and Detroit Public Schools graduate, Dr. Boggs leads 16 initiatives focused on health equity, recovery, food access, chronic disease prevention, and community‑led grantmaking — all grounded in the lived experiences of Detroit neighborhoods.
Dr. Boggs shares the early moments that shaped her understanding of inequity, from growing up in a deeply connected Detroit community to witnessing stark disparities when she left home for college. Her path from kinesiology and pre‑med to public health leadership was fueled by a desire to advocate for people who look like her — especially after learning how maternal and infant health outcomes disproportionately impact Black women, regardless of income or education.
Together, Ber‑Henda and Dr. Boggs explore:
- What resilience looks like in Detroit neighborhoods, where communities “keep going, keep moving, no matter what,” despite redlining, food insecurity, and structural barriers.
- How Detroit schools and neighborhood roots shaped Dr. Caira’s public health lens. ● Worker health realities in Detroit’s plants — from blood pressure to chronic disease risks.
- What recovery‑friendly workplaces need: Narcan access, dignity, and long‑term support.
- Food insecurity as both structural and neighbor‑to‑neighbor — and how small acts help.
- Neighborhood‑driven solutions like micro‑grants, walking clubs, and anchor organizations.
- How COVID‑19 exposed inequities and elevated social determinants of health.
Dr. Boggs also reflects on the personal experiences that continue to motivate her — from loved ones whose health outcomes could have been different with better access, to the collective trauma and awakening brought on by the pandemic. Her message is clear: every person has the power to change someone’s trajectory, whether through advocacy, compassion, or simply knowing the people on your block.
This episode is essential listening for anyone working in community health, public health, philanthropy, health equity, or systems‑level change — and for anyone who believes in the strength and brilliance of Detroit’s neighborhoods.
Caira Bogus
A resilient community is just a community that doesn’t stop. You can keep on coming if you want to. You can have red lines, we can have food insecurity, but we’ll figure it out. We’re going to keep going, we’re going to keep moving no matter what. We’re going to be resilient and laugh through it all. And honestly, that’s the heart of Detroit neighborhoods — and I’m using the word neighborhoods because that’s important.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Well, hello. You are listening to the Health Disparities Podcast from Movement is Life. I am Ber‑Henda Williams. I’m a media producer, podcast host, womanist cultural strategist, and I am here in Detroit, the heart of the city. I was raised by this city through my parents, and I carry a deep respect and love for Detroit and Detroit communities.
Today we are continuing the conversation about health — not just the care, but the conditions — and I’m joined today by Dr. Caira Boggs from Michigan Public Health. She is the Director for the Michigan Public Health Institute Center for Health Innovation and Practice and Detroit Health Initiatives. This powerhouse oversees not one, not two, but 16 initiatives focused on health equity, recovery, food access, chronic disease prevention, and community‑led grantmaking.
Dr. Boggs, welcome, welcome, welcome. We’re so happy to have you here. Caira Bogus
No, thank you for having me. Happy to be here. I feel like I’m at home already. Ber‑Henda Williams
Good, good, good. Well, we’re just going to jump right into it. I think the understanding of inequity starts very young. So if you can take us back to your first witnessing that something wasn’t equitable in your community — in terms of care and treatment of people — when did you first realize it?
Caira Bogus
Sure. I am Detroit born and raised, Detroit Public Schools bred, and in that space I only knew my community. My community was amazing. It was everything to me. I knew my neighbors on my block; they knew me and my family. The different families on the corner were into us — whether it was the Flowers, the Side Factors, whoever they were — and they’re still great family friends to this day.
My teachers loved me, I loved them, and I can still reach out. So my community was everything, and I thought no differently. I never knew anything was different from others because all I knew was my community.
I graduated from Renaissance and went on to Bowling Green State University. When I got to Bowling Green, I saw a lot of differences. Listening to other students and their experiences — the things they did, the things they had access to — I was like, “Oh, never.” Even minor things like having a pool at your high school. I knew some schools had them because sometimes we played Country Day, but that was a one‑off — an anomaly, like a higher‑echelon thing.
In undergrad I studied kinesiology and human movement science. I was pre‑med and wanted to do sports medicine. I started reading more into health and saw differences — especially around maternal and infant health. Like, wait a minute. You’re telling me I’m at higher risk when I decide to start a family just because I’m Black? It didn’t matter what I did or how healthy I was — it was because no one took me seriously and no one listened.
Being in those spaces made me want to be a voice for people who look like me. The research I was reading started to look like my aunts and uncles. That’s when I saw the big difference.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Wow. And that leads me into your next question about shaping your public health lens. There is something different when you see a patient or community member as a relative — “This is my aunt, this is my grandmother.” What kind of care would I want for someone I love? As you entered academia and higher ed, how did that shape your lens?
Caira Bogus
Of course. It was never about me — and it still isn’t. People say, “Oh, Dr. Boggs,” and I’m like, “I’m just Dr. Caira from Avalon and Six Mile and Meyers.” But I realized that having those degrees got me into rooms where I could speak for others.
Before I got deeper into public health, I did employee health and wellness at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant. One of my goals was to decrease absenteeism by providing health and wellness programs and helping people on leave. I did blood pressure checks, walking programs, cholesterol checks.
I’m from Detroit — everybody knows someone who worked at a plant. I had never been inside one until then. I’d take someone’s blood pressure and say, “Hey, your blood pressure is quite elevated,” and they’d say, “Oh, that’s probably just the food I ate last night. I gotta get back to work.” And I’d say, “Okay, but this is something you should follow up with your physician about.”
Because so many of my family members worked in plants, I saw them in these workers. It became bigger than me. I carried that with me — this wasn’t just a community I knew; it was a community I was part of.
Ber‑Henda Williams
You’re addressing something structural — especially here in the Motor City. Many of us are assembly‑line babies. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the assembly line. Yes, the triple time and overtime made great Christmases…
Caira Bogus
And sharing checks! And don’t forget my B‑plan — I get a discount on my car. Ber‑Henda Williams
Right. But you’re talking about how it impacts the body, attendance, and family life. My grandmother was a nurse at the plant and worked afternoons, so her sleep schedule was different. I couldn’t talk or play during the day because she needed rest. That affects circadian rhythm, sleep, food — all of it.
You’re coming in with heart in this very mechanical space — following up, checking in. Wellness isn’t just the check; it’s the care. Which brings me to my next question: What does a recovery‑friendly work environment look like?
Caira Bogus
A recovery‑friendly work environment is really a space where there’s understanding. And not just in plants — think about construction workers, automotive workers, small mechanical plants. My father worked at Michigan Bell — now Ameritech/AT&T — climbing poles. People have struggles sometimes, whether it’s alcoholism or drug addiction, and it affects families.
We want people to recover and re‑enter the workforce in a healthy way. So if I need to leave to go to AA, how do you support that? Maybe we shouldn’t have alcohol at every holiday party. Maybe we need education — managers, HR, everyone — about addiction, Narcan, and long‑term recovery.
Addiction isn’t a one‑time solution. It’s like cholesterol or glucose — you manage it forever. And you manage the environment around it.
Ber‑Henda Williams
I love how you bring dignity to the person. Recovery can carry stigma and make a person feel outside community. But your programming centers humanity. We all have trials — we just wear them differently. When we contemplate health and having a resilient community, what does that look like to you?
Caira Bogus
A resilient community is just a community that doesn’t stop. You can keep on coming if you want to. You can have red lines, we can have food insecurity, but we’re going to figure it out. We’re going to keep going, keep moving, no matter what. We’re going to be resilient and laugh through
it all. And honestly, that’s the heart of Detroit neighborhoods — and I’m using the word neighborhoods because that’s important.
Ber‑Henda Williams
That is important. Let’s name it plainly — for our people on Seven Mile to Better Mile, all the way to the North End…
Caira Bogus
Yes.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Hamilton, McGraw, Lawton, Clark Park…
Caira Bogus
Yes — the neighborhoods. If it wasn’t for the neighborhoods being resilient, there wouldn’t be a Detroit as it is today. I love hanging downtown, I love the Riverwalk, I love the beautification — but it’s the neighborhoods that are the heart. They pump the blood.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Shout out to the neighborhoods. Earlier you talked about sugar, so we have to talk about diabetes and how it disproportionately impacts communities of color — specifically Black neighborhoods. You mentioned food insecurity. Structurally, what can we do? And individually, what can we do?
Caira Bogus
Individually, it’s about looking at your neighbor — especially if you have more. How many times do you take carryout home and it just sits in the fridge? How many restaurants have food waste?
Cooking with Q does a great job — “If you’re hungry, we got it.” Food insecurity means you don’t know where your next meal is coming from or you don’t have enough to feed your family through the month. Just because I’m eating today doesn’t mean I’m not food insecure.
People need to understand: even me, as Dr. Caira Boggs — I’m two checks away. We all are. One layoff, one economic crash, and life changes. That understanding builds empathy.
Sometimes it’s as simple as: if you see a food distribution line and you know someone who needs food but can’t drive — get in line for them. Small things matter.
And with people experiencing homelessness — I say experiencing because it’s temporary — buy an extra meal. Pay it forward not just for the person behind you, but for the person who could never be in that line.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Come on, Dr. Caira. And structurally — for listeners in corporations, nonprofits, or affluent schools — you’re naming privilege. Not a dirty word, but a responsibility. Transportation is an issue. Yes, Eastern Market takes EBT — but what if I can’t get there? What about elders?
Caira Bogus
Yes.
Ber‑Henda Williams
I’m about to take it to church — the sick and shut‑in. And students who are couch surfers. Caira Bogus
Yes.
Ber‑Henda Williams
And think about how few major grocery stores we have in the city.
Caira Bogus
Exactly.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Now many grocery stores have delivery systems. So what are ways we can pay for delivery or cultivate partnerships? We’re about to save the world — because Black women will do it — but you’re helping us think about using our privilege to help someone else.
This gets us into neighborhood solutions. People feel helpless — “This problem is too big.” How do we put power back in the hands of the people?
Caira Bogus
Start. Just start. At Michigan Public Health Institute, especially with Detroit Health Innovations, we support neighborhood‑level ideas.
If you want to start a walking club and need pedometers, blood pressure cuffs, scales, or a fitness watch — you don’t need $10 million. You need $3,000. Or $1,200 for a block club
wellness seminar. Or after‑school tutoring because reading levels are low — and education is a social determinant of health.
We help anchor organizations push dollars into neighborhoods. In one project, funded by MDHHS and the Kresge Foundation, we identified seven anchor organizations. We trained them to be grantmakers. They then funded 68 neighborhood partners.
Instead of decisions being made at the top, they were made at the grassroots. Ber‑Henda Williams
I love that. Many people doing the work don’t have nonprofit status — but in our communities, it’s just called “doing the right thing.” You look out for the person to your left and right.
Dr. Caira, you are a wealth of information and compassion. As we close, what was a defining moment for you?
Caira Bogus
Honestly, COVID. In public health, dealing with something so devastating — we didn’t know what was happening. It raised public health to the forefront. You never saw the state health director on TV every day before that.
It elevated the importance of tracking, epidemiology, and social determinants of health. We had been yelling about equity — but COVID showed why it mattered. If you were pre‑diabetic or diabetic, you were more likely to have adverse outcomes. We were afraid for our elders, our loved ones.
It reminded me why I do this work.
And on a personal level, I think about my aunts and uncles whose health outcomes could have been different with better access, education, or resources.
Ber‑Henda Williams
As we close, what wisdom do you want to leave our audience with?
Caira Bogus
Never forget that you can make a difference. One small thing can change someone’s life — encouraging someone to go to the doctor, checking on the strong ones and the weak ones, knowing your neighbors.
For a long time we wanted to be equal — to have what others had. Now we’re looking at being equitable — giving people what they need to bring them up to equal. That’s the difference.
Ber‑Henda Williams
Let’s go, Dr. Caira. Thank you so much for your leadership and the work you do in the community to advance health equity across Michigan. And for our listeners, to learn more about this amazing work, please log on to MPHI.org.
This has been the Health Disparities Podcast from Movement is Life. I am Ber‑Henda Williams. Until next time, take care of yourselves and stay healthy.