Pima County REACH Coalition is a partnership with Tucson Indian Center, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, House of Neighborly Service (HNS, a division of YWCA), Liberty Partnership/Kino Neighborhood Coalition (LPKNC), First Things First (FTF), United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Tribal Health Authorities in Pima County, and the University of Arizona Mexican American Studies Program to address REACH Components A and B. PimaREACH will reduce chronic disease disparity among Latinx and Native American populations through Physical Activity, Nutrition, Early Care and Education (ECE), and Vaccine Equity strategies. The coalition will build on accomplishments of the current REACH grant, while also implementing novel strategies.¿
During its first REACH funding cycle beginning in 2018, Pima County established trusted partnerships and broad community presence in some of Pima County’s most marginalized and remote communities. During the onset of the COVID-19 health emergency, the REACH coalition pivoted quickly to get life-saving information out into communities long before official assistance could be awarded and deployed. Now Pima County is seeking a deeper engagement with community members, partnering with them in strategy development. In December 2020, Pima County’s Board of Supervisors declared racial and ethnic health inequities in Pima County to be a public health crisis. Since then our local health department has been building capacity for data analysis and health equity work and will soon launch a cross-functional public health Office of Policy, Equity and Resilience.
Our new REACH initiative will plug into strategic infrastructure opportunities for our county – both physical and systemic – to effect upstream improvements to health and wellness in Latino and Native American communities. A cross-jurisdictional planning and policy initiative informed by Vision Zero traffic deaths and Complete Streets principles offers opportunities to create activity-friendly infrastructure in heretofore neglected neighborhoods. In Early Care and Education PimaREACH will leverage Arizona’s Quality Improvement and Rating System and Pima County’s groundbreaking investment of $30.2 million over for needs-based scholarships for high-quality ECE. To promote nutrition and healthy eating Pima County will draw from the City of Gastronomy and 4,000 years of indigenous and heritage crops and culinary traditions.
PimaREACH will follow a systematic approach: quantitative and qualitative data analysis to identify areas of highest need or benefit, collaborative development or tailoring of solutions and messages, and dissemination of these through trusted messengers and through bi-directional engagement that frequently surfaces new needs and priorities.
