Flint coalition receives $700K to improve health among African Americans, Hispanics

FLINT, MI – People of color face a health disparity in America.

Locally in Flint and Genesee County, the Greater Flint Heath Coalition is working toward solving this problem.

The organization received $700,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the first year of the five-year Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program.

The REACH funding will help the Greater Flint Health Coalition improve health, prevent chronic diseases, and reduce health disparities among African American and Hispanic/Latino populations with the highest burden of chronic disease in Flint and Genesee County.

REACH is a federally funded program with the CDC. Black residents in Genesee County have an age-adjusted mortality rate that’s 30% higher than white residents across all causes, according to a GFHC news release.

The release added this includes chronic diseases that are worsened by a general lack of access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity, in particular African American/Black residents’ age-adjusted mortality rates are substantially higher than white residents for heart disease.

“Cities like Montrose and, of course, Flint, we will be taking a high focus on increasing access to healthy food, increasing safe physical activity spaces and then lactation spaces here,” said Amarachi Wachuku, REACH Project Coordinator.

Wachaku’s role is to “connect the dots” for the entire project. She has worked for GFHC for over a year.

Her primary background is in public health research, working for Oakland University. Wachaku worked on COVID-19 response efforts and earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences with a concentration in Integrative Holistic Medicine and her Master of Public Health from the school.

“This role, for me, was a nice segue into working with the community in a greater way and a larger impact, particularly with populations such as African Americans and Hispanics” she said. “It has a great interest in my heart because of my personal journey.”

Wachaku added the Flint community suffers from a lack of trust and there is a need for the GFHC to provide transparency to them.

Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke are among the most common causes of illness, disability, and death in the United States. They are also leading drivers of the nation’s $4.1 trillion in annual health care costs, according to the CDC.

These chronic conditions—and the factors leading to them—are more common or severe for some racial and ethnic groups.

The Greater Flint Health Coalition will work with partners and local coalitions to enhance existing resources, address Flint and Genesee County’s health needs, and reduce health disparities.

Terry O’Toole, program development and evaluation branch chief in the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, said the REACH funding will spread across 41 communities in 27 states and the District of Columbia

As one of 41 REACH recipients, the Greater Flint Health Coalition will implement public health strategies for nutrition, physical activity, and continuity of care in breastfeeding and lactation.

Here are steps the REACH program plans to implement:

• Healthy food choices easier everywhere—promoting 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.

In addition, the GFHC has partnered with the Crim Fitness Foundation to create safe physical activity.

“It takes a village to change the trajectory of a community,” Wachaku said.

For more information, visit gfhc.org.