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2018-2023 Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Grant


In 2018, RAO Community Health (formally known as Rosedale Assistance & Opportunities) was awarded the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This five year grant is designed to identify and address the racial and ethnic health disparities among our priority population, Black/African Americans, in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus County, located in North Carolina.

As a chosen recipient of the REACH grant, we are looking to bring together members of the communities that we will be serving to build and/or expand a powerful community coalition to plan and carry out the three program strategies:

    • Nutrition
    • Physical Activity
    • Community-Clinical Linkages

To learn more about the CDC and the REACH Grant, click here.

REACH work plan

Newsletter

Success Stories

Updates

As recipients of the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant, we were offered the opportunity to apply for the Society for Public Health Education’s (SOPHE) writing publication workshop.  To our great pleasure, we were accepted and attended several training/workshop sessions in preparation to write a manuscript.  We are proud to announce that our first manuscript, Specialty Box Program: Implementing Tailored Food Boxes to Serve the Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic, has been published!  This work could not have been accomplished without our partnership with Loaves & Fishes and the contributions of Ashley Carmenia, MPH, Candace Butler, MSPH, Aniessa Rollins, MS, RDN, and Chasidie Glover, RD, LDN, MS.  Thank you to the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, & Obesity (DNPAO) Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for their technical support throughout this process.  We embarked on this project in hopes that this sustainable program can be replicated by other organizations in areas across the country where health disparities related to food insecurity are prevalent.  Please enjoy!

Smart Growth America (SGA) partnered with RAO Community Health and Sustain Charlotte over the course of several months to prepare and provide a virtual multidisciplinary technical assistance workshop held from July 21-30, 2020. Originally envisioned as an onsite workshop, SGA worked with partners to shift to a virtual format in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

SGA used its experience and expertise to provide education on best practices to build a common
foundation of understanding on the relationship between Complete Streets and activity-friendly
routes to everyday destinations; to facilitate a series of discussions to identify local challenges and
opportunities; and ultimately to synthesize the outcomes of the data and discussions into
recommendations that represent the priorities of the community and stakeholders. Read the full report here. To learn more about Smart Growth America, click here.