Overview of Nashville REACH 2010's approach to eliminating disparities in diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2010) is a federally sponsored initiative with the goal of reducing and eliminating disparities in health by 2010. The approach is community-driven, wherein community coalitions design, implement, and evaluate the strategies to eliminate health disparities. This article describes the history, development, and activities of Nashville, Tenn, REACH 2010's initiative that targets the reduction of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in African Americans. The team-based strategies, generated with considerable community input, focused on effecting changes in access to healthcare, health and wellness, screening, and tobacco use with the goal of making sustainable behavioral and environmental changes. Evaluation includes a Web-based system for collecting process data and random telephone surveys to monitor the program's impact on health disparities.