Atlanta, Aug. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ten municipalities across eight states joined the 2018 Cohort of the Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) selected as $10,000 grant recipients from Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM).
The initiative engages mayors, county and elected officials, and community leaders, to enhance their health leadership skills, influence health policies, and implement health projects to address health inequities. Civic leaders from across the nation have kicked off their projects with action planning in partnership with their elected officials, as MSM provides pilot project technical assistance. The projects will be implemented through February 2019.
“We are excited and honored to be one of the Morehouse School of Medicine grant recipients. To expand our efforts to combat our food access challenges, we will use the grant to provide access to fresh fruits and vegetables and provide cooking demonstrations and meal kits at various convenience stores throughout our great city,” says Deana Holiday Ingraham, Mayor of the City of East Point, GA.
These civic leader convenings are made possible by a grant from the Kresge Foundation to Community Voices: Health Care for the Underserved, a division of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine.
“Partnering with municipalities to directly impact the health of their citizenry is an essential aspect of how we are leading the creation and advancement of health equity,” says Starla Hairston Blanks, MBA, MPH Director of the Community Voices Division of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Principal Investigator of the Health Communities Initiative Leadership Program.
The mayors and elected officials trained by MSM include:
- Mayor Eddie Cole (Eatonville, FL)
- Commissioner Rodney Ellis (Houston, TX)
- Mayor Jimmie Gardner (Prichard, AL)
- Honorable Helen Holton and Councilman Bernard Young (Baltimore, MD)
- Mayor Deana Holiday Ingraham (East Point, GA)
- Mayor Donnis Leeth (Colony, AL)
- Mayor Barbara Mallett (East Spencer, NC)
- Commissioner Oz Nesbitt (Conyers, GA)
- Commissioner Chris Rodgers and Councilman Ben Gray (Omaha, NE)
- Councilwoman Deborah Delgado (Hattiesburg, MS)
About Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM)
Founded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is among the nation's leading educators of primary care physicians, biomedical scientists and public health professionals. In 2011, MSM was recognized by Annals of Internal Medicine as the nation’s No. 1 medical school in fulfilling a social mission. MSM faculty and alumni are noted for excellence in teaching, research and public policy, as well as exceptional patient care.
Morehouse School of Medicine is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award doctoral and master's degrees. To learn more about programs and donate today, please visit www.msm.edu or call 404-752-1500.
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