Winter 2000 Issue
CDC Foundation Extends REACH in California
Grant from The California Endowment to serve state’s minority populations through three projects
The California Endowment and the CDC Foundation are partnering to address health issues affecting minority populations in the state of California.
Last August, three worthy California proposals barely missed the cut for receiving CDC planning grants under the REACH 2010 initiative, a national program to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health in the next 10 years.
But the three proposals will be funded after all, thanks to the generosity of The California Endowment, a private foundation that helps underserved populations and improves the health of all Californians. The Endowment has awarded a $1.26 million grant to the CDC Foundation to bring three crucial projects into the CDC’s REACH 2010 fold:
- a model to educate Latinos with diabetes in East Los Angeles on treatment and care for the disease;
- a plan to increase the numbers of Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian women who are screened for breast and cervical cancer in Los Angeles; and
- a five-year demonstration project to reduce cases of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among African-Americans in five California
“The California Endowment is delighted to partner with the CDC Foundation in its efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health over the next 10 years,” says E. Lewis Reid, president and CEO, The California Endowment. “As California’s largest health foundation, The Endowment is committed to expanding access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities.”
The three proposals receiving funding through the grant all received high marks during the original CDC evaluation process but finished just behind four other programs in California receiving REACH 2010 federal funds.
One proposal builds on the success of a coalition of 11 different Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian community organizations and providers to address inequities in breast and cervical cancer screening among Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian women in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The coalition will conduct focus groups and interviews with 2,100 women and develop an action plan to improve rates of cancer screening and management.
“We have women who are dying out here, who have never had a screening or have never gone to a doctor,” says Mary Anne Foo, of the Orange County Asian Pacific Island Community Alliance. Foo adds that the action plan will address cultural issues that are a factor in low rates for breast and cervical cancer screenings. “Most are lower income, monolingual and bilingual women who find it very embarrassing to be examined by male doctors.”
Another proposal will form a Latino Community Diabetes Task Force to develop educational materials for Latinos with diabetes in East Los Angeles. The task force will plan and evaluate a program that includes a training curriculum for health educators and health care professionals, a clearing house of materials on diabetes and a diabetes self-management program at key community sites.
A third proposal will lead to a strategic plan to reduce cardiovascular disease and diabetes among African Americans in California. The plan is aimed at the five California communities in which the California Black Health Network has chapters - five communities that are home to more than 70 percent of the state’s black population. The strategic plan will be born out of regional conferences in each of the communities and a statewide gathering in the summer of 2000.
The REACH 2010 program is part of the federal government’s response to President Clinton’s Race Initiative, which was unveiled in June 1997. The initiative strives to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in six priority areas of health - infant mortality, deficits in breast and cervical cancer screening and management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV infections/AIDS and child and adult immunizations.