The partnership between the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Center for Minority Health (CMH) and the Kingsley Center in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh was featured in the health section of the March 11 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Healthy Black Family Project (HBFP) is a community-based intervention designed to prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes through lifestyle behavior change.

The program is made possible through an innovative funding partnership including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities, the Pittsburgh Foundation, the DSF Charitable Trust, the Poise Foundation and private donations. The HBFP occupies more than 12,000 square feet of studio and classroom space in its headquarters at the Kingsley community center and satellite intervention sites at Hill House in the Hill District and Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg. These neighborhoods are all part of the Health Empowerment Zone, a geographic space designated by the Allegheny County Health Department as at high risk for chronic disease. Launched in 2005, more than 7,000 African Americans are enrolled in the program.

CMH director Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, Philip Hallen professor of community health and social justice, noted that some of the worst health statistics in Pennsylvania are found within a two-mile radius of the University of Pittsburgh campus. By offering culturally tailored physical activity and health education classes at no charge, as well as support for chronic disease management, CMH is reaching people who previously have not had ready access to such services. The approach is also a demonstration of how to put the "public" in public health and build a foundation of trust between the academy and the African American community.

One participant talked to the reporter about HBFP. "It's helped my blood pressure," said Ms. Betty Tallon. "My medication has been cut in half."

The article called the physical activity programs underwritten by CMH "[a]rguably the best fitness deal in Pittsburgh," and went on to feature more participants who have seen dramatic health improvements from the classes. Read the full story here.