National call to action: Building capacity through local community empowerment

Background: To inspire action and impact change on the state and local levels, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed and implemented a Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Action Institute (REHDAI). The purpose of the REHDAI is to increase the capacity of local communities to impact health disparities. REHDAI provided focused education, and specific skills needed to support community action plans related to health disparities, community capacity building, and the social determinants of health.

Methods: Nine state teams were selected and convened by CDC and its partners to increase their capacity by participating in training that inspires action at the state and local levels to reduce health disparities.

Results: Training sessions enabled participants to: 1) identify root causes of health disparities in their communities; 2) develop skills that will allow them to promote awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities; 3) expand and sustain key partnerships to mobilize community and other resources to address health disparities; 4) identify components and characteristics for development of successful proposals for public and private funding for interventions to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities; and 5) identify strategies to employ social justice as an organizing tool for communities to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities. This institute also provided local teams with tools, resources, and strategies for developing a plan of action and evidence-based approaches to build healthier communities.

Conclusion: Strategies that empower local community efforts to build capacity can be a key element to impacting a national movement to eliminate health disparities.