Miami Gardens, Fla. – The City of Miami Gardens’ Live Healthy Miami Gardens (LHMG) Initiative has been awarded a

grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – specifically, its Health Promotion Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program.

The grant will support vaccination coverage for racial and ethnic groups experiencing disparities in vaccination rates.

“We are thrilled to be recipients of this grant which will allow us to continue the work of addressing the health outcomes of our residents with a specific focus on the Influenza vaccine,” said Mayor Oliver Gilbert.

MISSION SINCE 2014 

“The influenza vaccination is more important than ever this flu season given the expected co-circulation of COVID-19,” added the mayor of the largest predominantly African-American municipality in Florida, boasting many Caribbean and Hispanic residents.

MAYOR OLIVER GILBERT: “The work done through Live Healthy Miami Gardens has significantly raised awareness of health and wellness issues in our city,” he said.

“The work done through Live Healthy Miami Gardens has significantly raised awareness of health and wellness issues in our city,” Gilbert said, “and I am pleased we have this opportunity to expand our efforts to ensure our people are informed on how to maintain their health during this upcoming flu season.”

The proposed project will be implemented by LHMG, whose mission since 2014 is to drive citywide changes that measurably improve the health and life outcomes of people who live and work in the city.

LHMG is a collective impact, multi-disciplinary, cross-sector collaboration of over 100 community stakeholders and 65 organizations, built upon the understanding that no single organization can solve tough problems on its own, and that community involvement is essential to reducing health disparities.

12-MONTH PROJECT 

The 12-month project will focus on facilitating discussions at the community level to address barriers and concerns about flu vaccination, help increase connections and communication between the community and health care practices and mobilize communities to implement public health programs to reduce health disparities.

The project will build on work funded by the CDC since 2018 in Miami Gardens focused on reducing health disparities among racial and ethnic populations with the highest burden of chronic disease (i.e., hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity) through culturally tailored interventions to address preventable risk behaviors (i.e., tobacco use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity).