Washington, DC, October 3, 2024 – The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the voice of the country’s over 3,300 local health departments, with support from the University of Minnesota National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), awarded one local health department and five community-based organizations a total of $450,000 to strengthen public health services targeting Afghan refugees, immigrants, and migrants (RIM) disproportionately impacted by health inequities.
Each awardee site demonstrated an existing partnership between local health departments and RIM-serving community-based organizations. The $75,000 awards will be used to conduct resource and network mapping and community and partner engagement, and develop a subsequent implementation plan to expand, tailor, and adapt their services and resources to effectively reach current and future Afghan populations in their communities. The initiatives will also help identify successes, challenges, and lessons learned in the mapping and planning processes that will provide informed-driven recommendations to disseminate to other jurisdictions. RIM communities face several factors that lead to health disparities including: barriers to access quality healthcare, lack of health insurance, income and wealth gap, and education. As key front-line resource and service providers, local health departments and community-based organizations need to be appropriately equipped to collaborate to support the specialized needs of Afghan communities.
The six selected site participants are:
Afghan Health Initiative, WA ($75,000)
Champaign Urbana Health District, IL ($75,000)
Fresno Interdenominational Refugees Ministries (FIRM), CA ($75,000)
Nuestra Comunidad, CA ($75,000)
Refugee Women’s Network, GA ($75,000)
San Ysidro Health, CA ($75,000)
The lessons learned from this program will be disseminated broadly to help inform this work in communities across the country. In addition, NACCHO has developed two new toolkits on how to navigate common challenges to sustainability and deliver trauma-informed care for RIM communities:
- Overcoming Challenges to Sustainability for Local Health Departments and Non-profit Organizations Working with Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant (RIM) communities
- Trauma-informed Approaches for Local Health Departments and Non-profit Organizations Working with Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant (RIM) Communities
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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the over 3,300 local governmental health departments across the country. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information, visit www.naccho.org.
