Moffitt Recognizes National Day of Racial Healing

Each year Moffitt Cancer Center recognizes and celebrates the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many team members volunteer in the community for a “day of service” and participate in the National Day of Racial Healing, which falls on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are a cornerstone of Moffitt’s mission and we celebrate our diverse family of team members throughout the year,” said Cathy Grant, senior director of Moffitt Diversity. “We must continue to focus on our diversity, as well as encourage racial healing, so that we can all work together for a common good: in our case treating and curing cancer.”

We must continue to focus on our diversity, as well as encourage racial healing, so that we can all work together for a common good: in our case treating and curing cancer.

Cathy Grant, senior director of Moffitt Diversity

This year, Grant also hopes team members focus on equity from the lens of working together to achieve health equity and improve health outcomes for communities of color.

The annual National Day of Racial Healing is held one day after the nation remembers King. The day is set aside to have essential and timely conversations on racial healing, equity and justice. This is the sixth year for the program, which was created by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort.

“The National Day of Racial Healing centers around experiences rooted in truth-telling, offering people, organizations and communities a day set aside for racial healing, bringing people together to take collective action for a more just and equitable world,” according to the Kellogg Foundation. “Racial healing recognizes the need to acknowledge and tell the truth about past wrongs created by individual and systemic racism and address the present consequences. It can facilitate trust and build authentic relationships that bridge divides created by real and perceived differences.”

Diversity, equity and inclusion are founding values of Moffitt and recognizing a day of racial healing on the heels of King’s birthday gives team members, patients and the community a time to focus on a better future.

Those participating in the National Day of Racial Healing events are encouraged to post to social media using #HowWeHeal.