(COUNTY EXECUTIVE) Fitzgerald Lauds $5.5 Million CDC REACH Grant to Reduce Health Disparities

PITTSBURGH – County Executive Rich Fitzgerald today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a second $5.5 million Racial & Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). The program provides funds to build strong partnerships to improve health, prevent chronic disease and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities in selected communities. Along with funding, the CDC provides expert support to REACH recipients.

“For the past twelve years, I have prioritized making Allegheny County a healthier and safer place to live, learn and work,” said Fitzgerald. “The Health Department, and its many community partners, have worked diligently to improve health equity in this community and have made significant strides. This additional funding from the CDC will allow them to continue and expand this important work.”

In Allegheny County, the Live Well Allegheny REACH Program is a collaboration between ACHD and many community partners focused specifically on improving health outcomes for Black and African American residents. In addition to ACHD programs and clinics, partners include Allegheny County Economic Development, Food Trust, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Just Harvest, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Faith-Based Health Collaborative, Royally Fit, Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, Healthy Start Center for Urban Breastfeeding, Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle, Black Women’s Policy Center, Bethany Community Ministries, the Black Equity Coalition, and the Urbankind Institute.

With the funding awarded by the CDC REACH Program, ACHD and its many partners plan to:

Improve breastfeeding rates by linking even more Black mothers to breastfeeding information, education and support;
Increase trail mileage, access to existing trails and improve the built environment to encourage outdoor activities by continuing to partner with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County;
Increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables using voucher programs for things like farmers markets and produce prescription programs to create a clinical linkage to more nutritious food; and
Increase vaccination rates by improving access to vaccination opportunities.

The Live Well Allegheny REACH Program focuses on the following municipalities and neighborhoods:
Clairton, Duquesne, McKeesport, North Braddock, North Versailles, Rankin and Wilkinsburg and the neighborhoods of the Northside, Homewood/Larimer, Hill District, Garfield, Hazelwood, West End and the Hilltop in the City of Pittsburgh.

“The Live Well Allegheny REACH Program aligns perfectly with the Plan for a Healthier Allegheny and our collective goal of achieving health equity through the reduction of chronic disease and the increase in life expectancy,” said Dannai Wilson, ACHD Deputy Director for the Bureau of Community & Family Health. “Together, these partnerships, even in the face of significant challenges like the pandemic, have already yielded positive results for our communities and we look forward to even more success in the coming years.”

ACHD’s REACH project aims to address racial health disparities in Allegheny County by addressing several of the risk factors associated with chronic disease. Over five years, multiple partners will collaborate to improve nutrition, physical activity, continuity of care for breastfeeding and increasing adult vaccinations for Black residents through various activities ranging from expanding healthy food policies to implementing active transportation projects.

By increasing the opportunities for health and wellness through policy, systems and environmental improvement, the Health Department expects to improve the disease burden and the outcomes for more than 75,000 Black residents in target communities.

During the five years of the first CDC grant, the Live Well Allegheny REACH Program in Allegheny County achieved important goals. These include:

Promoting increased physical activities by advancing 25 miles of roadway improvements, including 10 miles of pedestrian and bicycle improvements in Homewood and 6 miles in McKeesport. The grant also supported early feasibility studies that led to the establishment of the $2.25 million Turtle Creek Trail that connects to the Great Allegheny Passage;
Referring approximately 3,000 patients to primary care physicians for chronic disease and food assistance programs;
Connecting hundreds of Black residents to direct breastfeeding support;
Establishing nearly 100 formal partnerships between clinics and member organizations thereby improving the community connections to these providers;
Enhancing the availability of nutritious food in these communities by working with more than two dozen establishments to provided fresh fruits and vegetables, accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits, and establishing new famers markets); and
Increasing vaccination rates by training several dozen (more than 150) trusted messengers across all REACH communities and holding vaccination events that served more than 2,000 people.

The first round of CDC REACH funding provided $3.75 million over five years. Partners leveraged this funding for more than $1 million in additional private and public funds to support efforts aligned with improving health, preventing chronic disease, and reducing racial and ethnic health disparities.

To learn more, visit the Live Well Allegheny REACH Program.