MINNEAPOLIS— The City’s Health Department is a recipient of a $5.1 million, five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program.
The Minneapolis REACH program reportedly aims to improve health, prevent chronic diseases, increase vaccination rates and reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic populations who have a heightened risk, or burden, of chronic disease, specifically for African Americans, East Africans and American Indians.
REACH grant projects and partnerships is supposed to focus on neighborhoods in North and South Minneapolis where 69% of Black and 60% of American Indian residents live. Current grant funding will build on partnerships established in a previous round of REACH funding (Sept. 2021 – Sept. 2023).
“We are pleased to be able to continue and strengthen the work we have already done with the REACH program now through 2028. This new funding will allow us to expand our areas of focus within high-risk populations and provide a tailored approach to our neighborhood communities,” said Commissioner Damōn Chaplin, Minneapolis Health Department.
The Health Department and its community partners will use REACH funding to focus on four areas. They include:
- Healthy food choices easier everywhere: Promoting healthier food service and nutrition guidelines, expanding fruit and vegetable voucher incentive and/or produce prescription programs.
- Safe and accessible physical activity: Connecting pedestrian, bicycle, or transit transportation networks to everyday destinations.
- Continuity of care in breastfeeding support: Collaborating with partners to implement breastfeeding-friendly policies and practices.
- COVID-19, flu, and other routine vaccines: Increasing awareness, confidence, demand, and access to routinely recommended adult vaccines, for racial and ethnic groups experiencing disparities in immunization, including uninsured adults.
The grant will be presented to the City Council for acceptance.
The REACH program is a national program administered by the CDC to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. REACH celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019.
