Building Bridges to Health Equity in the Amani Neighborhood: Improving Health Care Access and Quality

At a Glance

This project, led by Children’s Outing Association, will promote health equity within the Amani neighborhood—a Milwaukee community facing significant health disparities and elevated risk for many chronic health conditions — by building local community capacity and enhancing access to high quality primary care services and health education. David Frazer, MPH, Center for Urban Population Health, UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, UW-Milwaukee, Advocate Aurora Research Institute, serves as the academic partner.

The Challenge

The Amani neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin faces significant health disparities including low life expectancy, high rates of infant mortality, high rates of childhood blood lead levels and overall elevated risk for many chronic health conditions. The neighborhood has been impacted by historic red-lining policies, industrial development, disinvestment, job loss, foreclosure and increased crime. Today residents continue to face the impacts of racism and poverty, with 57 percent of all Amani households living below the federal poverty rate, compared to Milwaukee’s 24 percent and Wisconsin’s 11 percent poverty rate. Further, 97 percent of Amani residents identify as people of color compared to 58 percent of those in Milwaukee and 15 percent of the broader Wisconsin population.

Project Goals

The overarching goal of this project is to promote health equity in the Amani neighborhood and surrounding community by enhancing access to high quality primary care services and health education. This goal will be addressed through three specific aims:

1. Leverage assets of an active community-academic partnership to build local community capacity within the Amani neighborhood.
2. Increase access to primary health care services and health education within the Amani neighborhood.
3. Improve health care quality through coordinated patient-centered policies and health professional education.