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Metro Denver Black Church Initiative: Addressing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
"Our overall goal is to improve the health and well being of the African-American community," said Grant Jones, founder and Executive Director of the Black Church Initiative and its new Center. "The black church has always been more than just a religious institution. It has also been a place of cultural preservation, leadership development and health education, especially for the most disenfranchised members of the African-American community. "We've discovered that of all the services we've offered over the years, our health education and outreach has gained the most traction and garnered the most interest."
"Supportive follow-up telephone calls by trained staff make a big difference in helping people with diabetes to track and self-manage the disease as they learned to do in the six-week Focus on Diabetes curriculum," said Jones. "The Trust grant is also helping us to put more emphasis on being culturally competent in how we serve our community - whenever possible, the physicians, nurses, dieticians and fitness experts who lead our programs are African-American themselves, people who really understand the myriad cultural issues that come into play when we talk about health." According to Jones, there are approximately 180 African-American churches in Metro Denver, nearly 40 of which are already involved in the new Center's health initiatives. Gaye Wood"We're striving to diminish major health disparities in our community," he said. "Over the last four years, we've provided health screenings to over 3,000 people per year at church sites and health fairs, and we've reached more than 13,000 people per year with various health messages. "In 2006 - alone through our Focus on Diabetes Project - we expect to train about 250 people in diabetes self-management." For more information about the Metro Denver Black Church Initiative's Center for African-American Health and its work to alleviate health disparities, visit www.denverblackchurch.org. For information about The Trust's Equality in Health Initiative, contact Ginger Harrell, Program Officer, ginger@coloradotrust.org. |
The Center for African-American Health at the Metro Denver Black Church Initiative is helping African-Americans in the area to both lessen their chance of contracting diabetes and to self-manage the disease. The Center is one of 14 grantees of The Colorado Trust's seven-year, $13 million 
The Metro Denver Black Church Initiative has identified follow-up support as a key component of its Focus on Diabetes Project, based on cultural competency practices that have been proven effective among African-Americans.