NYU Langone’s Section for Health Equity, a part of the Division of Health and Behavior, develops, implements, and supports several service projects as part of our mission to address health inequities in racial and ethnic minorities.

Asian American Community Education Project

The Asian American Community Education Project works with community-based organizations located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and the Chinatown neighborhoods of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens to deliver culturally adapted and linguistically relevant health education to Asian Americans. Topics are determined with community input and delivered by bilingual, bicultural community health workers using adult and group learning strategies. Recent topics have included healthy nutrition, physical fitness classes, stomach cancer prevention, and oral health. Project goals are to increase participant knowledge about cancer and other chronic disease, nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles and to increase the use of health services and resources.

Culturally and Cost-Appropriate Rapid Intergenerational Nutrition Guidance

Culturally and Cost-Appropriate Rapid Intergenerational Nutrition Guidance (CARING) is a nutrition curriculum series being developed and led by Stella S. Yi, MPH, PhD. The goal of CARING is to improve food access and reduce diabetes-related disparities in low-income, immigrant families using an intergenerational approach. Researchers are developing a culturally adapted parent- and grandparent-targeted nutrition education curriculum with guidance from a registered dietitian and with a focus on accessible choices. The curriculum encourages healthy dietary patterns that incorporate traditional diets, while discouraging some dietary food items associated with less favorable cardiometabolic outcomes. The curriculum also includes practical information about our partner food pantry at Family Health Centers at NYU Langone in Brooklyn and pricing lists of recommended foods from grocery stores.

Researchers plan to test the feasibility and acceptability of the nutrition education curriculum using mixed methods. Based on participant feedback, researchers may further refine the program by developing in-language navigation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program signup, tours of non-ethnic local grocery stores, and tutorials on usage of online grocery shopping websites. Embedding more resources into partnering institutions, for example, culturally appropriate community supported agriculture models, is another possible goal. Specific CARING materials will be developed for multiple immigrant communities of plurality in Brooklyn, including Chinese, Mexican, Arab American, and Russian families.

In-Person Assistant Navigator Program

The Section for Health Equity helps provide an In-Person Assistant (IPA)/Navigator program for the New York State of Health: The Official Health Plan Marketplace. Funded by an IPA/Navigator grant, we sign people onto the New York State of Health Marketplace for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance. This effort is led by the Coalition for Asian American Children & Families, which provides culturally and linguistically tailored outreach and education about the ACA and enrollment assistance in the Arab American, Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Fujianese, Indian, Japanese, and Sikh communities.

Muslim Americans Reaching for Health and Building Alliances

The Muslim Americans Reaching for Health and Building Alliances study, led by Nadia S. Islam, PhD, explored the barriers and facilitators to breast and cervical cancer screening among Muslim women in New York City. This research was conducted with the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health. This evidence-based program is now delivered through mosque settings in Brooklyn in collaboration with our Community Service Plan.

Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health for Asian and Arab Americans in Brooklyn

Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health for Asian and Arab Americans (REACH FAR) in Brooklyn is an evidence-based program building upon our prior work implemented in several mosques on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The program is designed to prevent cardiovascular disease by increasing access to healthy foods, providing culturally tailored health coaching and messages, and providing blood pressure screenings. The program also features a community health worker‒led breast and cervical cancer screening program. REACH FAR is part of our Community Service Plan. For further details, please see our Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Service Plan.