Office of Minority Health

What Projects Does OMH support?

Allocation of grant dollars to community organizations is a key function of the office. OMH has funded 36 projects on a variety of health promotion and risk reduction issues of special concern to minority populations. These include violence prevention among adolescents, diabetes, and organ donation. The projects have led to the development of peer education programs, health education modules and campaigns, extensions of clinic hours to reach more community members, bilingual media campaigns to promote organ donors and programs for primary oral/dental care. Currently OMH is funding 16 community partnerships to address health disparities. These partnerships are engaged in mobilizing community responses to health care needs by establishing viable coalitions that reflect the population and utilizing the resources of the community.

What Training Opportunities Does OMH Offer?

OMH offers a series of three-hour workshops for community based organizations (CBOs). The workshop series was created to help organizations providing programs and services to minority communities gain skills in a variety of topical issues relevant to minority health.

Workshops include:

Workshops are held in New York City, Buffalo and Albany.

Interested parties can call OMH at (518) 474-2180 and register for a workshop.

The workshops are free of charge.

What is a Minority Group?

According to the Federal Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Directive 15 (revised October 30, 1997) minority groups are categorized data on race. This directive specifies five racial groups: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African-American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White, and one ethnic: Hispanic or Latino.

Every categorical group, except White, is considered a minority group. These categories are used not only to produce data on the demographic characteristics of the population, but also to monitor civil rights enforcement and program implementation.

For the latest data on racial and ethnic populations in the United States, go to: U.S. Census

What Are Health Disparities?

"Health Disparities" are defined as population-specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to health care. Six clinical issues (Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, Infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, Cancer screening and management, and Immunizations) were chosen because they represent a major portion of health problems in low income, rural, and urban communities and in people of color. Two other major conditions for which the Surgeon General has devoted attention are asthma and oral health.

What is Cultural Competence?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health (FOMH) characterizes cultural and linguistic competence as the ability of health care providers and health care organizations to understand and respond to the cultural and linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care encounter. There are 14 cultural standards for assuring cultural competence in health care. These standards are: Culturally Competent Care, Language Access Services, and Organizational Supports for Cultural Competence and vary in scope from mandate to guidelines to recommendations. To access these standards, go to: Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.