Strategies to Reach and Implement the Vision of Health Equity (STRIVE): Using evidence-based strategies to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

Recent initiatives have focused on dissemination of evidence-based (EB) strategies implemented through health departments to achieve high-impact, population-wide policy, systems and environmental (PSE) improvements to address poor nutrition or lack of physical activity.  Targeted, community-level efforts are needed to supplement these approaches to achieve comparable results in underserved Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) who often are not reached by population-wide efforts. The Strategies To Reach and Implement the Vision of Health Equity (STRIVE) Project is committed to ensuring that AANHPIs benefit from these large-scale efforts by funding local AANHPI community-based organizations (CBOs) to implement EB strategies tailored to address the unique characteristics of AANHPIs.  Three million dollars from the STRIVE Project were allocated to 15 AANHPI CBOs across the US and the Pacific to implement tailored EB strategies on physical activity and nutrition that reached at least 75% of their local community. A mixed methods evaluation framework was created to monitor the progress and success of strategy implementation. Technical assistance (TA) and training were provided as needed. All 15 CBOs created a multi-sector coalition, conducted a community health assessment and policy scan, and developed a community action plan to inform their EB strategy implementation. In 13 months, CBOs reached over 1.2 million AANHPIs through the STRIVE Project. A population-based approach alone is not sufficient to reduce health disparities. With relevant TA and training, AANHPI CBOs as trusted community gatekeepers, are well positioned to implement multi-change and multi-impactful EB strategies to reduce health disparities in AANHPI populations.