Office of Minority Health

HHS Announces $2.6 Million in Grant Awards for Initiative to Address Factors Contributing to Health Disparities and Structural Racism

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) announced awards for an initiative designed to help identify and address state or local policies that may create or perpetuate health disparities and contribute to structural racism. Racial and ethnic minority populations experience health disparities and poorer health outcomes across many health conditions. These health inequities are due, in part, to circumstances, such as poverty, structural racism, and discrimination.

“Structural racism affects the distribution of resources within racial and ethnic minority communities and thus may perpetuate health disparities,” said RADM Felicia Collins, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and OMH Director. “Identifying elements in policies that may contribute to structural racism and either modifying those policies or developing new policies, may lead to reduced health disparities and improved health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations.”

The Framework to Address Health Disparities through Collaborative Policy Efforts initiative includes one award for $500,000 to operate a coordinating center and six awards totaling more than $2.1 million for demonstration projects. The coordinating center is expected to lead the development and evaluation of a methodological framework, structured process, and tool to support the assessment and identification of policies that may create or perpetuate health disparities and contribute to structural racism. The demonstration projects will utilize the framework, process, and tool to identify specific policies that may create or perpetuate health disparities and contribute to structural racism and will work to modify or develop new policies to improve health outcomes.

The project period for both the coordinating center and the demonstration projects began on September 30, 2021. The period of performance is not to exceed three years.

A full list of awardees for the Framework to Address Health Disparities through Collaborative Policy Efforts initiative is below:

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.