Lessons in coalition building for diabetes prevention and management to address disparities among African Americans in rural Georgia

For over six consecutive years, diabetes morbidity has disproportionately burdened the African American community in Jenkins County, Georgia at almost six times the rate of Whites. While African Americans accounted for 41% of the population in Jenkins County in 2006, they accounted for 73% of all diabetes morbidity reported in the county. In a community hit hard by the economic downturn and a 23.1% unemployment rate, transportation, food insecurity and limited access to local health care present challenges. In 2008, the Jenkins County Diabetes Coalition (JCDC) was formed to address the diabetes prevention and management disparities among African Americans. After a year of inactivity, the JCDC partnered with the Georgia Society for Public Health Education (GASOPHE) to provide an infrastructure to implement programs and strategies to address not only the diabetes disparities, but also build capacity in the community to create individual-, community- and system-level change for healthful living by addressing social norms. The new partnership is supported by SOPHE's Health Equity Project cooperative agreement with CDC's Division of Adult and Community Health which aims to facilitate community action and capacity building to address health disparities; promote understanding of health disparities and social determinants of health; develop partnerships to support policy and environmental changes to reduce the burden of disease and disability; and develop resources, tools and strategies to eliminate health disparities. Challenges of coalition building and development in a rural context will be discussed along with unique successes that have supported the growth of the coalition.