Eliminating Health Disparities: National Organizations Reaching Local Minority Communities

The CDC-funded program addresses via the National Organizations that Serve Minority Communities Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Eliminate Health Disparities (MNOs REACH-US) strategies that eliminate racial and ethnic differences in health beyond a focus on a particular disease, as well as the broader context of social determinants of health. MNOs with a national reach and broad community development agenda are uniquely suited to integrate strategic actions for community empowerment within a community health program. The MNO grantees specifically serve one or more racial and ethnic groups (including African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latino) and address one or more health priority area(s): cancer (breast, cervical cancers); cardiovascular disease; diabetes mellitus; and infant mortality. The grantees provide targeted culturally tailored training and technical assistance in: 1) Dissemination of evidenced-based heath disparities elimination strategies and tools to local affiliates and chapters of the national organizations, and; 2) Capacity-building with local affiliates and chapters. The MNO grantees assist their local affiliates and chapters in transforming evidence-based or practice-based findings and information into practice. This session will present lessons learned from the MNOs REACH-US model for using national reach to promote health equity.