CDC Dedicates More than $1 Million to Savannah Area in the Fifth Year of REACH Grant Funding

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Oct. 9, 2022 - PRLog -- (SAVANNAH, GA) Healthy Savannah (https://healthysavannah.org/) and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia (https://ymcaofcoastalga.org/) are pleased to announce that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://www.cdc.gov/) has affirmed that $1,086,000 in Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant (https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/state-local-programs/reach/index.htm) funding will be made available over the next year to reduce health disparities and increase access to health and nutritional resources across African-American and Hispanic/Latino Americans in across Savannah (https://www.savannahga.gov/) and Chatham County (https://www.chathamcountyga.gov/).

On October 1, the local organizations entered their fifth year as administrators of the five-year $3.4 million REACH grant, awarded in 2018. The CDC has confirmed that the year-five allotment of $685,000 will be distributed to the administrators and an additional $401,000 will be awarded to continue a supplemental grant for COVID and flu vaccine awareness and access programs. The supplemental grants were first awarded in April 2021 to increase COVID vaccine awareness, access, and acceptance among Black and Hispanic/Latinx residents of Chatham County and in October 2021, to reduce the risk of flu. The administrators utilize both supplemental grants to reduce the disproportionate effect of flu and COVID-19 in those communities.

So far, 55 "community health advocates" have participated in Healthy Savannah's training program and 34 have now completed the training requirements with many of those still actively working in the community. The grant administrators have also supported faith-based community events that include COVID and flu awareness efforts and vaccine clinics.