REACH is a national program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. The lead organization, South Los Angeles-based the Community Coalition, was one of seven awarded a CDC REACH Grant in 2014. To help improve health outcomes in the target community, the Community Coalition, along with their community partners, hope to increase access to resources at local health clinics to help manage chronic illnesses, and build safe, recreational spaces for residents to walk, bike and/or run for physical activity in South LA neighborhoods.
As a community partner on this grant, PARC is utilizing a CBPR integrative mixed methods multi-year approach in to evaluate program implementation processes and effectiveness. Using both primary and secondary data sources, findings will be used to measure the impact of the community partnership on: decreasing crime, increasing public safety, improving access to physical activity opportunities, increasing public health insurance enrollment, strengthening of clinical and community linkages, and other unanticipated outcomes. The findings will also be used to build on a body of knowledge developed through previous REACH programs, to strengthen capacity and implementation of evidence- and practice-based strategies in other racial and ethnic communities.