I am committed to building community around intersectional experiences...and generating awareness of the complexity of identity that exists ‘between worlds’.

Ray J. Rodriguez
Hey, I am Ray (he/they), and I am the Director of Community Health Programming here at Deep Refuge! Caring for communities of all kinds has been a lifelong passion of mine; a passion that I bring into everything I do. For decades I have learned about the lived experiences of people from all walks of life. Through dialogue and relationships, I have broadened my own perspective around the ways we as people show up in relation to the world around us. I’ve noticed some interesting themes over the years, one being the United State’s culture around health and health care and the despondence felt about the health care systems we rely on.
After years of hearing people discuss what they do not like about the healthcare industry and the lack of support in addressing health issues before they became issues, I decided to pursue a Master of Public Health degree with a focus in community-oriented practice. My goal was to learn more about upstream interventions that work to prevent major health issues that impact different communities in different ways.
What I discovered early in my education is that I could not see myself reflected in any of the “best practice” health intervention strategies. Since then, I have made it my mission to inspire professionals in healthcare, public health, and the non-profit sector to incorporate more community in their approach to community health. I am committed to building community around intersectional experiences such as my own, and generating awareness of the complexity of identity that exists “between worlds”.
Training & Certifications
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Master of Public Health from University of Washington with a focus on Community Oriented Practice
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BA in Cultural Anthropology from Western Washington University
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Embodied Social Justice Certificate, completed with Dr. Sará King, Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams & Dr. Rae Johnson
- Solving Complex Social Problems with Human-centered Integrative Design completed with Thomas Both & Nadia Roumani of Stanford Design School

Background
The foundations of my work are set on my lived experience, which includes my heritage. I proudly identify as a first-generation graduate who is Native American, Puerto Rican, Nigerian, Spanish, Latinx, British, Two-Spirit, Transmasculine/Non-binary, and Queer. My identity has been shaped by growing up in Northern California and my time as a young adult in the Pacific Northwest. After a lifetime of being told I must “choose” which aspects of my heritage I can claim to be, with many saying I am not “enough” of any specific identity to claim it, I no longer participate in the dismantling of my identity in the interest of comforting those outside myself. This practice has been so liberating, I aim to share it with others who also live with complex identities. This is why I chose Deep Refuge as my launching pad to grow the Compounding Intersectional Experiences community and the programming to support it.

I believe in taking a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach as frequently as possible when it comes to health programming. This means ensuring there are systems and structures in place that support equitable partnership between community members, health professionals, and stakeholders, to address community issues through shared knowledge and action. In addition to a CBPR approach, it is important that teams also lean into the concept of intersectionality and utilize the core constructs of intersectionality to guide and inform processes, implementation, and even evaluation.
Alignment

Professional
My background includes 8 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, ranging from medical office administration, supervising teams at a coordinated care surgery clinic, and contract work for county-wide public health departments as well as community-based organizations. I have conceptualized, designed, conducted, and evaluated innovative research at the intersection of Community-Based Participatory Research and Critical Race Praxis in collaboration with the Center for Anti-Racism and Community Health at the University of Washington (UW). In addition, I spent years designing and teaching curriculum at UW, teaching public sector professionals about Asset Based Community Development, Positionality, White Supremacy Culture, Intersectionality, and more.