Feds Grant City $3.4M For Health Equity

Fair Haven doctors will soon be able to ​“prescribe” fruits and vegetables to food-insecure patients, thanks to a new round of federal funding for health equity advocacy at CARE.

CARE (the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement) is a local public health organization housed at Southern Connecticut State University and Yale. The group is planning to partner with Fair Haven Community Health Care to help low-income patients access fresh produce, CARE Director Alycia Santilli announced at a press conference at City Hall on Friday. 

The logistics of that program are still in the works, according to Santilli, but the vision is for doctors to provide vouchers or gift cards to either an external supermarket or an in-house ​“food pharmacy” at the clinic. 

This future initiative is one of several of CARE’s planned efforts to promote access to nutritious foods, breastfeeding support, and physical activity among low-income Black and Latino New Haveners — made possible by a new $3.4 million federal REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) grant that CARE has secured from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The grant, which will be administered over the next five years, is the second batch of REACH funding that CARE has received from the CDC since an initial grant in 2018. 

Santilli emphasized a focus on reducing barriers to nutrient-rich foods and other health-boosting practices, rather than lecturing people to make choices they may not be able to afford. ​“We need to move past individual behavior changes” like just ​“telling people to eat five fruits and vegetables a day,” she said, and instead focus instead on helping people find and afford foods that will improve their health.

Southern Connecticut State University interim President Dwayne Smith praised CARE’s collaboration with community members. Many public health programs talk to communities ​“about what’s best for them, instead of that community sharing what they feel is best for themselves,” he said, while CARE ​“uplifts marginalized voices” in ​“driving meaningful change in their communities.”

One community partner working with CARE to destigmatize breastfeeding is Fair Haven-based lactation consultant Dionne Lowndes, who shared her excitement for the work to come from the New Haven Breastfeeding Task Force that collaborates with CARE.

With funding from the REACH grant, the task force created a ​“Roots of Racial Inequities in Breastfeeding” training for healthcare providers to gain cultural competence in working with Black and Brown patients. It has also launched a ​“Support Breastfeeding Anytime, Anyplace” campaign advocating for breastfeeding-friendly accommodations at local businesses and community spaces, including the new lactation room at Union Station.

Black lactation consultants like Lowndes are significantly underrepresented in an overwhelmingly white field. Black Americans in particular face systemic barriers to breastfeeding — a practice that benefits both babies and parents — made evident by a history dating back to when enslaved Black women were forced to breastfeed the babies of their white enslavers. For decades, formula companies have targeted Black families in advertising campaigns, while Black parents continue to have lower access to breastfeeding education.

“Other professionals like myself might not understand the inequities that families face,” Lowndes said.

Lowndes recalled her own experiences struggling to breastfeed when she was a new mom two decades ago, until a colleague sat down with her and helped her through the process. She felt uncomfortable breastfeeding while out and about; she would feed her baby covertly in retail changing rooms or empty grocery store aisles. 

“The environment wasn’t that friendly toward people breastfeeding ​‘anytime, anyplace,’” she said. 

She has since found a calling in helping to advocate for a more breastfeeding-friendly world through the task force, in collaboration with CARE.

The funding will support CARE’s administration of a variety of health education and advocacy programs, including:

• Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP), which trains food pantry staff to provide nutritional information about the various available foods using ​“Green,” ​“Yellow,” and ​“Red” labels indicating a gradient of nutritional value. The program currently works with 10 food pantries, and with the new REACH funding, CARE plans to expand to another dozen pantries in the area.

• Collaborations with the New Haven Breastfeeding Task Force to provide training for health care institutions on racial inequities in breastfeeding and the ​“Anytime, Anywhere” campaign.

• Community outreach as the city’s Department of Traffic, Transportation, and Parking implements the ​“Safe Routes For All” active transit plan.

CARE will also redistribute some of the funding to Fair Haven Community Health Care (which will implement the food ​“prescription” program), Earth’s Natural Touch (a coalition of Black doulas and perinatal care providers), and Witnesses to Hunger (a local group of policy advocates who have personally experienced food insecurity).