CHECK-UP and CVS Health have partnered up to advance health equity in the Detroit community. CHECK-UP has joined the CVS Health Community Equity Alliance, a national consortium of healthcare and academic organizations focused on advancing health equity and access to care in historically marginalized communities. Through this work, CHECK-UP and CVS Health are creating initiatives to advance health equity with emphasis on Detroit's persistent poverty areas in which a substantial proportion of the neighborhood has lived in poverty for decades. This includes building a multi-sector coalition, the Detroit Community Health Equity Alliance (D-CHEA).

The Detroit Community Health Equity Alliance (D-CHEA) is dedicated to collaborating to bring about community-level change that fosters health-promoting opportunities and behaviors. The alliance is currently looking for representatives of community-based organizations and that serve Detroit's persistent poverty areas (PPCTs) and Detroit community residents to serve on the coalition. The goals of D-CHEA are to: 

• Highlight and increase the visibility of resources within each coalition organization and in the broader community related to healthcare access and health outcomes. 
• Investigate cardiovascular and mental health through a social-ecological lens and over multiple levels of influence (e.g., societal, policy, community/neighborhood, interpersonal, and individual) on population health and individual health outcomes. 
• Serve as a bi-directional communication method among researchers and members of the public to learn from the community and foster future collaboration. 
• Inform health equity work and multilevel interventions to address cardiovascular and mental health risk/protective factors in the Detroit community. 

Persistent Poverty Census Tracts (PPCTs) in Metro Detroit

According to the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service and the National Cancer Institute, PPCTs include areas where 20% or more of the population has been below the federal poverty line base since 1990; or in other words, areas in which at least one-fifth of the population has been impoverished over a 30-year period. Of Detroit's 297 census tracts, 169 (56%) are considered persistent poverty areas and have increased vulnerability to poor physical and mental health outcomes.

Through advancing community-academic partnerships, D-CHEA is investigating the pressing healthcare needs in Detroit's PPCTs and increasing our community's capacity to affect change. For more information about the coalition and its aims please contact Ten-Niah Kinney at ten-niah.kinney@wayne.edu. CHECK-UP is expanding its network of individuals and organizations dedicated to community-driven health equity initiatives. If you are interested in becoming affiliated with CHECK-UP, staying up to date on projects and initiatives, or learning more about upcoming workshops and events, visit https://check-up.wayne.edu.