JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UF Health Jacksonville’s Urban Health Alliance (UHA) has received a multimillion-dollar grant that will be used to establish a statewide Center for Health Equity and Social Justice.
UF Health officials say the $3.7 million grant will provide a major boost to the hospital’s goal of improving health equity and social justice to ensure that families, individuals, and entire communities, have the access and the opportunity to achieve positive health outcomes.
“This is an incredibly generous grant to UF Health Jacksonville and the Urban Health Alliance that will allow us to continue to focus our attention on the communities and people who need us the most,” said Russ Armistead, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville. “The vision of UHA is to help residents achieve their full potential for optimal health and well-being, and this grant will help us take a major step in that direction.”
UHA was created two years ago to serve as a comprehensive resource center and community health hub that focuses on improving health through collaborative work with health care, government and community organizations.
A release states that the Center for Health Equity and Social Justice has a wide range of goals, which include bringing together diverse stakeholders to create and share living actionable community research, developing training curriculum, tools and approaches that are practical and focus on people and the community, and educating communities to expand opportunities to gain mutual understanding and respect for differences and similarities.
“One of the most critical factors is to ensure the success of the new center will be collaboration not only across the state to ensure the broadest reach, but also working with other organizations with similar missions and priorities,” said Ann-Marie Knight, vice president of Community Engagement and chief diversity officer for UF Health Jacksonville. “We look forward to working with each of these organizations. Through their expertise and respective partnerships, we will, collectively, work with communities to help address factors that negatively impact health and well-being.”
Visit UFHealthJax.org/uha for more information about UHA. Visit www.floridablue.com/foundation for more information on the Florida Blue Foundation.