Health Equity Project
SOPHE’s Health Equity Project aims to encourage SOPHE Chapters to engage REACH CEEDs, local partners, including community-based organizations and community members in addressing risk factors associated with diabetes and other chronic diseases among African American/Black (AA/B) and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. For more information about REACH program visit the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/reach/about.htm.
Goals of the Project
Build SOPHE Chapters' leadership and partnership capacity to facilitate community action towards policy and environmental systems change;
Improve the lives of American Indian and Alaska Native populations who suffer disproportionately from the burden of disease and disability, and develop tools and strategies that will enable the nation to eliminate these health disparities;
Work with African American and Black communities to develop tools, policies, and strategies that will improve the social conditions that are the root cause of health inequities enable the nation to eliminate these health disparities;
Improve the lives of racial and ethnic populations who suffer disproportionately from the burden of disease and disability, and develop tools and strategies that will enable the nation to eliminate these health disparities.
Minority Communities Advisory Committee Members:
| Bonnie Duran, University of Washington (Chairperson) | David Mount, Wake Forest University |
| Michael Bird, APHA Past President |
Regina Pulliam, University of North Carolina at Greensboro |
| Jeff Bachar, National REACH Coalition Board Member | Mary Shaw, Texas A&M University |
| Lynn Davis, YMCA of the USA |
Elaine Auld, SOPHE Chief Executive Officer |
| Nashira Baril, Boston Public Health Commission, funded REACH CEEDs program* |
Nicolette Warren, SOPHE Director of Healthy Equity |
| Stephanie Pinnow, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc., funded REACH MNO |
Radonna Crowe, Healthy Cherokee |
*Denotes National REACH Coalition Leader
SOPHE’s Health Equity Project chapter mini-grant is funded by the National Organizations that Serve Minority Communities Initiative to Share Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Eliminate Health Disparities with Local Affiliates and Chapters, a CDC five-year cooperative agreement. Georgia and Northern California SOPHE Chapters will be funded $250,000 over the next five years under SOPHE’s Health Equity Project. Georgia SOPHE project focuses on developing and expanding the capacity for policy, system and environmental change through continued coalition building in rural Jenkins County, Georgia. Georgia SOPHE and various community-based partners will combine their efforts to enhance the capacity of local and regional African American/Black community members who suffer disproportionately from the burden of diabetes. Northern California SOPHE‘s goal is to build leadership and partnership capacity to implement sustainable health promotion strategies and monitoring change among American Indian/Alaska Native populations in the urban Bay Area of California. The project sets focus on diabetes prevention and management interventions implemented in a community-based setting.
Georgia SOPHE Parters:
Jenkins County Diabetes Coalition is working with the Medical University of South Carolina (REACH CEEDs) partnership.
Northern California SOPHE Parters:
SOPHE Health Equity Project Comprehensive Plan Summary
For more information about Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health, Minority National Organizations (REACH MNO): Click here.
Webinars:
SOPHE will be providing ongoing webinars related to eliminating health disparities and building leadership and partnership capacity. For a list of available SOPHE webinars visit http://www.sophe.org/webinars.cfm
If you are interested in the SOPHE Health Equity Project, please contact Nicolette Warren at nwarren@sophe.org