Igniting Hope: Mobilizing Community Resources to Achieve Health Equity 2020

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Good health is not shared equally among the residents of New York State. Health disparities between Blacks and Whites are particularly evident in the city of Buffalo (population 258,000, Buffalo Niagara region 1.13 million), which is among the poorest cities in the US with 31% living in poverty, leading to significant health disparities. The life expectancy of African Americans, who make up 39% of Buffalo residents, is 12 years shorter compared to that of White residents of Buffalo. Much of this health inequity results from social determinants of health, which include underdeveloped neighborhoods, failing schools, high unemployment, low property values, poor access to public transportation, food deserts, lead contamination in homes, and poor access to healthcare. In partnership with the African American Health Equity Task Force (AAHETF), we propose to conduct an annual community-based multidisciplinary conference entitled the Igniting Hope series with a goal to continue the dialogue on developing a strategy, which builds a culture of health as the cornerstone of a plan to end health disparities among African Americans in Buffalo. Led by local pastors and including University at Buffalo faculty from eight schools, advocates, citizens, and healthcare professionals, the AAHETF is an influential community- based group that has made significant progress in bringing awareness to the needs of the community, creating a network, establishing a vision, organizing fund-raising efforts, and beginning the work of disseminating our findings regarding minority health disparities in the region with a focus on the social determinants of health. The audience will include community leaders and stakeholders, university faculty and trainees from multiple disciplines, including medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, urban planning, law, education and business. We propose an innovative conference that includes keynote talks by national leaders in health disparities and facilitated breakout sessions. Our goals are to deepen understanding of how social determinants affect health research and health outcomes in the African American community and other underrepresented groups (Aim 1); build on the innovative health intervention strategies that have resulted from the initial conferences to promote research to develop and test innovative solutions for eliminating health disparities (Aim 2); and engage trainees from diverse backgrounds in an interactive conference and follow-up activities to attract the next generation of health equity researchers into the discipline (Aim 3). The conference will be held at the new UB medical school building located in one of the neighborhoods most affected by health disparities. The proposed conference will educate faculty, trainees and the community; foster new collaborations; and will be a primary means through which the AAHETF will take a leadership role to have a true impact on health disparities in our region.