Urban League of Hampton Roads Fights Racial Health Disparities

NEWPORT NEWS – The Urban League of Hampton Roads (Norfolk, VA) has partnered with the Riverside Health System to fight racial disparities in healthcare.

They also hope to connect people with assistance and treatment to prevent serious health issues.

At the announcement of the partnership on Wednesday, April 6th, Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel commented that the state has long recognized that health is the result of a multitude of factors, not just one. Education, housing, and other factors play a part.

With the Urban League’s four pillars of focus – education, health, housing, and workforce – Littel commented that it made the organization “tailor-made” to partner with Riverside Health.

Interim president of the Urban League, Gilbert Bland, is pleased. “We are grateful for this partnership and an opportunity to have more resources to impact our mission.”

The new partnership will have three new programs – Riverside Diverse Workforce, Project Ready, and Food as Medicine. Riverside Diverse Workforce will be year-round series of initiatives that tries to provide engagement through professional and educational means; Project Ready is a high school and college program; and the pilot program Food as Medicine, which is a program that will make healthy foods that were once unavailable available to disadvantaged populations that suffer from diet related health conditions (such as diabetes and heart disease). 

With the nation’s 14th largest population of African Americans, Bland understands the vitality of this new partnership.

“With a cohort of that size comes wonderful opportunities of a diverse community, but also offers a great deal of challenges. And in particular the healthcare community talks about this umbrella of social determinants of health.”

To find out more information, please read the original article here.