Building on Cultural Strengths to Eliminate Health Disparities in Minnesota

The Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative in Minnesota focuses on funding community-based approaches to reaching communities of color and American Indians, and implementing health improvement strategies that build on the cultural strengths of the communities being served. An evaluation has been conducted of the Initiative over the past three years and data were collected from grantee reports, interviews, and surveys with program staff in order to describe the design and implementation of grantee programs, and document what they have achieved in terms of programmatic outcomes and systems changes in their communities. The EHDI grantees are using a combination of individual and group health education strategies, health care navigation strategies, and media-based approaches to reach their targeted communities. These program strategies evolved through a combination of grass-roots, community-involved program development, data-based decision-making, and modeling on other successful programs. Staff, recruitment strategies and participant-encounters are structured to promote comfort levels and build trust. The programs are utilizing the culture and strengths of the community to reach and serve their participants by utilizing combinations of key institutions, family systems, values, beliefs, and traditional cultural practices. Accessibility is increased through linguistically appropriate services and materials, and through staffing that reflects the community. Outreach methods, client encounters, and program services are designed to overcome common barriers to working with communities of color. Lessons can be learned from the EHDI grantees, a group of community-based organizations, on how to implement programming based on cultural strengths and assets of communities that engages community members and produces targeted results.