The health of the nation’s black and Latino communities stands to get a significant shot in the arm from the $650 million in health and wellness funding announced this afternoon by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy organization.

The Prevention and Wellness Fund, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the federal stimulus bill), should go a long way toward creating healthier communities across America and, in particular, battling the pernicious racial disparities we see when it comes to obesity and diabetes rates.

“This new funding will throw a lifeline to millions of black and Latino children and their parents and help create healthier communities across America,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink and a principal advisor for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity. “Black and Latino Americans are hit hardest by the dual crises of obesity and diabetes. All people deserve to live in healthy communities - places with clean air, safe streets, clean parks, and easy access to healthy food options. These new funds will put us on a path toward healthy communities for all.”

The Administration’s funding approach appears to back three core policy principles PolicyLink and its partners have long called for:

• Healthy food in our schools
• Healthy food options in our communities
• Healthy and safe places to live and play

The funding plan also lines up well with recommendations provided to the White House by PolicyLink and the Prevention Institute. To read those recommendations, click here.

Fact and Resources after the Jump

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Gallup and America’s Health Insurance Plans (an industry group) just released this really interesting, in-depth new study/map showing the shocking “well-being” disparities in America. They have been surveying 1,000 new people every day since January 2008 to come up with “well-being” scores for each state and congressional district. The score takes into account general happiness, access to care, work quality, physical health and emotional health.

The disparities it shows are striking – though not necessarily surprising.

If you have a minute, visit this page, go to the Quick Report builder in the center of the page, create a map filtering by congressional district, then zoom in on any region you know well. You can see clearly that the poorer congressional districts all have far lower “well-being scores.” The proximity of wealth, healthy communities to poor, unhealthy ones is shocking.

Click through to the jump to see the well-being map of New York City. Nearly all of the low-scoring districts are overwhelmingly low-income communities and communities of color (like the 11th District, my district):

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Check out the Environmental Defense Fund report on truck idling in NYC, highlighted in the Gotham Gazette — a website covering New York City news and politics.

“The High Cost of Idling,”  looks at health, environmental, and economic impacts associated with idling in New York City.

“Idling is an unnecessary source of roadside air pollution, increasing the risk of health problems for all New Yorkers, including the driver of the idling vehicle. Our estimates show that idling vehicles in New York City annually produce 940 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, the equivalent of 9 million large trucks driving from Hunts Point in the Bronx to Staten Island. Idling vehicles also emit 2,200 tons of smog-forming volatile organic compounds, 24 tons of soot particles and 6,400 tons of carbon monoxide each year. These pollutants are associated with a variety of health risks, including respiratory disease and impaired lung development, cancer, asthma, heart disease, lower IQ levels and prenatal complications.”

Click here to read the full report.

PolicyLink President Judith Bell addresses the importance of access to healthy food during a panel discussion focused on hunger at the Center for American Progress. ” Judith focused on many innovative and urgent policies for spreading healthy food access to all communities — especially low-income communities and communities of color.

You can watch the entire video (courtesy of CAP) below:

The timing could not be better for the launch of the landmark PBS documentary
Unnatural Causes – Is Inequality Making us Sick?, a four-part series that sheds light on the critical importance of economics, race and class on health outcomes.

The documentary (which I helped advise) skillfully portrays the vast disparities in health and overall quality of life between families with wealth and those clinging to the middle and lower rungs of the economic ladder.

The more money you have, the better your health. This powerful and vital message is at the heart of the series and helped spur the creation of the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place, which I direct.

More resources and insights below the fold….

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