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Greenville County organizations receive $1.5 million grant to address health inequities
Representatives of the Equity in Public Health Initiative. From left: Julio Hernandez, Adela Mendoza, Knox White, Sally Wills, Stacey Mills, Liz Seman, Shaniece Criss, Elizabeth Davis. Photo by Tim Carlin
Funded by a $1.5 million Health and Human Services grant, a coalition of three Upstate nonprofit organizations and two universities, including Furman University and Clemson University, will partner to identify and address health inequities in Greenville County. The Greenville News and Greenville Journal covered the announcement.
The Equity in Public Health Initiative targets disparities in the Black and Latinx communities. In addition to Furman’s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health and Clemson, the nonprofits involved include LiveWell Greenville, The Racial Equity and Economic Mobility Commission and The Hispanic Alliance.
The three-year program launches with research conducted by Furman and Clemson to uncover government policies and practices that have a deleterious effect on minority communities. Once that research is completed, including establishing baseline data, an action task force comprising community stakeholders will be established to address problems identified by the university partners.
Greenville was one of only 10 communities across the country awarded the grant and is the only community in the South to be entrusted with the task.