Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Action Institute: Impacting Change at State and Local Levels

Learn about CDC’s Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Action Institute, which provides local and state teams with tools, resources, and strategies for developing evidence-based approaches to build healthier communities.

To inspire action and impact change at the state and local levels, CDC has established the Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Action Institute (REHDAI). The Community Health and Program Services Branch (CHAPS) within the Division of Adult and Community Health (DACH) has developed and implemented the Institute; its purpose is to increase the capacity of local communities to impact health disparities. The REHDAI provides focused education and specific skills needed to support community action plans related to health disparities, community capacity building, and the social determinants of health. CHAPS is partnering with the CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, and the National Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Coalition to spearhead a national movement focused on the elimination of health disparities. 

The inaugural 2008 REHDAI, Mobilizing a Social Movement to Eliminate Health Disparities, was launched at the historic Martin Luther King National Historic Site’s auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia. 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. Training sessions enabled participants to:

• Identify root causes of health disparities in their communities;
• Develop skills that will allow them to promote awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities among residents, key stakeholders, and change agents of their communities;
• Expand and sustain key partnerships to mobilize community and other resources to address health disparities;
• Identify components and characteristics for development of successful proposals for public and private funding for interventions to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in their communities; and
• Identify strategies to employ social justice as an organizing tool for communities to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities.

REHDAI provided training components necessary to impact policy and systems level change at the local, state and national levels. The institute also provided local teams with tools, resources, and strategies for developing a plan of action and evidence-based approaches to build healthier communities. 

In 2009, the REHDAI participants will reconvene to report their progress of impacting the national movement to eliminate health disparities. A rigorous evaluation is being planned to determine the effectiveness of the REHDAI model to build and sustain a focus on health disparities across the U.S.)

CDC plans to continue providing technical assistance over the next three years. The needs identified and the recommendations from the team reports will also be integrated into CDC’s technical assistance. CDC will provide the REHDAI participants with opportunities for continued interaction and collaboration on a regular basis.