The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to community Health (REACH 2010) Demonstration Projects invest in innovative community-based action as a means to identify effective strategies for eliminating health disparities that, heretofore, have been resistant to traditional public health approaches. REACH 2010 is a two phased initiative. In Phase 1, grantees and their partner organizations work through community coalitions to plan strategies for reducing local racial/ethnic disparities in one or a combination of six health priority areas: HIV infection/AIDS, deficits in child and,/or adult immunization, infant mortality, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and deficits in breast and cervical cancer screening and management. In phase 2, grantees re-compete for awards that provide funding for implementing action strategies over a four year period. Complex community-based programs of this nature, especially those involving multiple stakeholders and those that address social determinants of health, present substantial evaluation challenges. This paper will describe the rationale and assumptions underlying the evaluation framework and logic model that are being used to assess progress and effects of REACH 2010 in Phase 2. Effects will be assessed using five sequential and interrelated stages: (1) capacity building, (2) targeted actions, (3) community/systems change and change among change agents, (4) changes in widespread risk/protective behaviors; and (5) health disparity reduction. Definitions, indicators, and examples for each of the five stages will be given. Also, methods will be described for analyzing results at two levels of analysis: (1) the individual community; and (2) clusters of communities addressing the same health priority area.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to: 1) Discuss the goals of the REACH 2010 national initiative; 2) Describe the evaluation methods CDC is using to determine success in REACH 2010 initiatives; and 3) Describe the outcomes of the initiatives
Keywords: Access, Ethnic Minorities
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.