Welcome to the Center for Health Equity & Social Justice. The Center combines two Commission offices to expand efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities: the Office of Health Equity (formerly the Disparities Project) and the REACH US Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities (REACH US CEED)
In 2003, the Mayor Thomas M. Menino convened two working groups, the Mayor’s Health Disparities Task Force and the Hospital Working Group, to address inequalities in health and health care among Boston residents and to develop a plan for action. The Office of Health Equity was initiated to implement the action plan.
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) is a national program funded by the US Centers for Disease Control to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States. This program builds on the body of knowledge initiated by projects funded under the original REACH 2010 program. The Boston REACH US CEED is one of 18 regional expert centers that provide experience and expertise working with one or more racial and ethnic groups as well as having a high level of expertise in addressing health inequity.
The Center joins the work of these two offices and aims to serve as a mentor for public health organizations working toward health equity by promoting community mobilization, community-based participatory research, program development, and program evaluation.
Specific activities of the Center include:
- Coordination of a Health Equity Training Center that provides education, training, and technical assistance;
- Development of training curricula and materials to educate community health workers, health care providers, and public health professionals about the social determinants of health and racial and ethnic disparities;
- Establishment of the New England Partnership for Health Equity, which is a learning collaborative among New England communities engaged in health equity work;
- Development and implementation of blueprints for action and community coalition building;
- Facilitation of a variety of regional and national activities to support a broad-based health equity movement; and
- Advocacy to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities through data collection, policy, and strategy development at the local, state, and federal level.