Office of Minority Health

HHS Awards $500,000 in Grants to Improve Use of Local Social Determinants of Health Data to Address Health Disparities

WASHINGTON D.C.—Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) announced $500,000 in grant awards to two organizations that will work on demonstration projects to help leverage the use of local data to address health disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations. The new Accessing Social Determinants of Health Data Through Local Data Intermediaries initiative will demonstrate whether existing local data intermediaries can facilitate community stakeholder access to and use of integrated community-level social determinants of health and health data. The initiative will also increase community stakeholders’ skills and capacity to use and apply data related to health disparities.

A local data intermediary is a community-based entity that acts as the mediator between data and local stakeholders, such as nonprofit organizations, community and faith-based organizations, governments, foundations, and residents. HHS OMH expects the projects funded through this initiative to increase the use of data related to social determinants of health and social risk in ways that enhance the development of local policies, programs, and practices that address health disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations; and increase the capacity of community stakeholders to use data to make data-informed decisions to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority and disadvantaged populations.

The two new award recipients will conduct their projects in Texas and California. The project period for the Accessing Social Determinants of Health Data through Local Data Intermediaries Initiative began on September 30, 2021, and will not exceed three years.

The awardees are:

For more information about OMH, visit www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov.

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) is dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.