How Data Sparks Conversations About Health and Equity in the Bronx

 The following post features Bronx Health REACH Project Director Charmaine Ruddock and was written by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R), a program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and can be found at their website. 

For over two decades, Bronx Health REACH (BHR) has been a force for health equity in New York City’s most under-resourced borough. Led by the Institute for Family Health, this coalition of more than 80 organizations has worked to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in the Bronx. One of their most powerful tools? County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R) data-informed Health Groups (formerly known as Rankings).

Health Groups illustrate the relative similarities in county health among Health Groups on a national scale. Health Groups support data-informed comparisons in county community conditions, as well as population health and well-being on a national scale. When CHR&R previously used ordinal rankings to order each county in a state from most to least healthy, Bronx County consistently ranked 62nd out of 62 counties in New York State — a stark reminder of the deep-rooted inequities facing the community.

In 2015, Bronx Health REACH and several key stakeholders in the Bronx launched #Not62: The Campaign for a Healthy Bronx, using CHR&R data as a rallying cry. “We’ve used the Rankings as a critical way to talk about it,” said Charmaine Ruddock, BHR’s project director. “This should be unacceptable.’”

This simple but powerful message has helped Bronx Health REACH “needle” policymakers—their word for persistent, strategic advocacy. “Others call it advocacy; we call it needling,” Ruddock explained. “To be incessant and insistent. To prod those who need to be prodded.”

CHR&R data have also helped the coalition educate the public. Many Bronx residents didn’t know their county’s health relative to others in the state. “It gave us a clear, easy-to-understand way to talk about the health of our community,” Ruddock said. “It helped us say, ‘Here’s where we are. Here’s what needs to change.’”

In 2021, Bronx Health REACH hosted a community event with CHR&R staff to celebrate improvements in some health behaviors and community conditions. “We were able to show where we moved from 50-something to 20-something in certain measures,” Ruddock said. “That was because of our efforts and partners’ efforts. The Rankings helped us tell that story.”

As CHR&R has shifted from ordinal rankings to data-informed Health Groups, Bronx Health REACH continues to use the data to push for change. “With the Health Groups, we see the opportunity to connect with other communities across the country who are in similar health groups. That opens the door for a national conversation.” In June 2025 Bronx Health REACH — partnering with the steering committee of the Not62: A Campaign for a Healthy Bronx, the National REACH Coalition and CHR&R — convened a meeting with organizations from communities in eight states, who shared similar challenging health outcomes and the determining community conditions.  The goal of the meeting was to address these outcomes and to explore the possibility of joint efforts.  

CHR&R has also helped Bronx Health REACH build credibility with funders, health systems and elected officials. “CHR&R comes with such authority,” Ruddock said. “When we use CHR&R data, it validates what we’re saying. It gives weight to our demands.”

Bronx Health REACH 2025 in Pictures

 

In April 2025, the Institute for Family Health, which leads Bronx Health REACH, marked a major leadership transition as co-founder and longtime CEO Dr. Neil Calman retired after 40 years and was succeeded by Dr. Eric Gayle. Over four decades, Dr. Calman built a network of high-quality health centers and advanced a vision that recognized community conditions as critical drivers of health, leading to the creation of Bronx Health REACH to confront health disparities through coalition-based action. Dr. Gayle assumed leadership at a challenging moment for the nation’s healthcare system, but his deep experience at the Institute and steady, forward-looking vision positions the organization to continue delivering quality care while strengthening communities through partnerships. 

A Proclamation from the Bronx Borough President recognized the 25th anniversary of the implementation of Bronx Health REACH's community action plan. For almost 3 decades, since the initiatives were first laid out in the action plan, they have evolved from a focus solely on discrete community based programs to one that is committed to policy, systems and environmental changes. The goal of this new focus is to transform our Bronx community/neighborhoods ensuring health and wellness for all Bronx residents.

We are thankful and appreciative of our partners, allies and staff who have been critical to this work and are what makes this all possible. Many thanks to the following who have generously provided funding for our work:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Initiative

• CDC – COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Initiative

• Cornell University

• County Health Rankings & Roadmaps/University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

• New York State Department of Health

 - Creating Healthy Schools & Communities Initiative

 - BRIC (Building Resilient & Inclusive Communities)/National Association of Chronic Disease Directors

• NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 

• New York Health Foundation

• New York City Council (Immigrant Health)

• New York City Commission on Racial Equity

• The NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC)

• National Institutes of Health/NYC Community Engagement Alliance (NYCEAL) To End Covid-19 Disparities

• The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)/National Institute of Food and Agriculture

• Silicon Valley Foundation

Bronx Health REACH 2025 Initiatives

Food Systems

Part of the Solution (POTS), Phipps Neighborhood Housing, Bronco Food Pantry at Bronx Community College, and St. Simon Stock Food Pantry implemented Healthy Pantry Initiative strategies, conducted client surveys on culturally preferred foods, and successfully increased access to healthier and culturally relevant food options.

11 sites participated in the Health Bucks Best Practices Training and distributed 2,800 Health Bucks coupons with an 80.9% redemption rate, led 24 farmers’ market tours for 274 participants (including 30 first-time coupon users), promoted an average of 22 markets, and delivered cooking demonstrations—both community-wide and at three Institute for Family Health Centers reaching 355 total participants. 

In partnership with Cornell University and New York University, Bronx Health REACH offered the Cornell FoodBox Program to 30 patients from Stevenson Family Health Center, Walton Family Health Center and Morrisania WIC. The program offered food boxes on a weekly basis for 12 weeks to 30 families with at least one child 10 years old or younger. The image shows a few of the responses from participants who completed the program.

As part of the Food for Living, Access to Systems and Supportive Strategies for Health Equity  (FLASH) Initiative, community Bronx Health REACH partners Manna of Life Ministries, New Covenant Community Development Corp, and Reconciliation Families in Christ held 9 cooking demonstrations and 3 nutrition workshops reaching 121 participants.

Nine Bronx bodegas participated in a Healthy Bodega pilot by selling Healthy Bodega/Bodega Fresca, a line of affordable, Latin-Caribbean–inspired grab-and-go meals, supported by New York Health Foundation funding and partnerships with the Bodega and Small Business Group, Collective Fare, the FRESCH Initiative. Eight healthy food offerings received strong customer and store-owner demand, and was highlighted at a May media event attended by Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson and business leaders.

For the Slashing Bronx Hunger project Bronx Health REACH helped 11 CBO/FBOs successfully apply for Health Bucks and host food demos at our Food as Medicine distributions. One food pantry completed the health pantry initiative training.

As a member of the NYC Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) coalition, Bronx Health REACH continues supporting the Good Food NY bill  that passed the Senate but in 2025 did not move through the Assembly due to limited time at the end of the session. An Advocacy Day in Albany is planned for February to garner more legislative support to pass the bill.

Bronx Health REACH facilitated five breastfeeding-friendly worksite trainings on new laws, employee rights, and strategies for creating supportive lactation spaces, at Highbridge Community Development Corporation and the Neighborhood Association for Inter-cultural Affairs.

Physical Activity

Bronx River Alliance hosted three community events with over 240 attendees and added 22 new members to the Friends of Starlight Park group. A new accessible entrance to Starlight Park, (located at E 173rd St/ Sheridan Blvd.) was completed with a paved connection to the crosswalk and curb ramp.

Equity Design, in collaboration with BronxWorks, held 4 workshops for community members to identify street improvements that would increase safety and accessibility for pedestrians and bicyclists. They also held monthly meetings with elected officials to garner support for complete street changes and collected 400+ petition signatures supporting complete street improvements.

PS 32 established a school wellness council and now hosts weekly Open Streets. PS 59 hosted 21 events between Spring and Fall 2025 that coincidentally, experienced at the same time a drop in student absenteeism which moved the school's ranking from 53rd to 40th in the district. PS 18 closed nearby streets in May to create a car-free biking path where students rode bikes and participated in other activities.

In August, Boogie on the Boulevard brought together hundreds of Bronx residents of all ages, with 39 vendors hosting a wide range of health and wellness activities.

Bronx Health REACH, along with other partners of the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition celebrated a victory as the New York State Dept. of Transportation abandoned their plan to build a separate roadway that would have diverted the flow of traffic through a stretch of the expressway while rebuilding and repairing five bridges in need of repairs.

Sixteen home-based childcare providers recruited through MARC Academy completed the Nourishing Healthy Eaters and Physical Activity Learning Session trainings and received materials to promote healthy eating and physical activity.

 

Other Initiatives

For our Flu and COVID-19 vaccination Initiative, ten doulas and two Community Health Workers completed training for a culturally-competent model for vaccine education and Six doulas presented to thirteen pregnant and breastfeeding moms about routine adult vaccination and vaccines for their newborn children. Bronx Health REACH conducted outreach in 15 Bronx zip codes by providing 153 tabling events reaching 6,386 people and giving 55 presentations to 1,700 people. 

From May to June, Bronx Health REACH participated in the New York City Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) People’s Money voting initiative and surpassed its goal of 500 Bronx participants by securing 684 votes.

As part of the Community Education Council Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) Project, Bronx Health REACH completed 5 idea generation events with 77 participants at MARC Academy, Davidson Community Center, Morris Older Adult Center, and IS232 school in zip codes 10453 and 10458.

The Health Disparities Workgroup met with Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson to discuss congestion pricing, housing affordability, and maternal health; hosted trainings with the League of Women Voters, NYC Votes, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, and the NYC Department of Health; and developed advocacy tools and campaigns including #Not62 and “What Have You Done for MY Bronx lately?” to engage community members and elected officials.

The 2025 Racism and Our Families Health: Connecting the Dots virtual event featured keynote speaker John Gladstone from Bronx Neighborhood Housing Services who presented information on the current housing crisis in the Bronx and how his organization is supporting current homeowners.

For our Immigrant Health Initiative, our Community Health Outreach Team of Joseph Ellis, Cheikhou Ann and Felix Rojas, completed 94 outreach events, reached 6,035 persons and completed 60 patient referrals to the Institute for Family Health.

'Men Let’s Talk,' a forum for Black and Latino men launched in January 2020 was forced to take a hiatus during the COVID lockdown. October 2025 marked three years since it was relaunched in October 2022. 'Men, Let's Talk,' is a mens only forum for Bronx men who are Black and Latino to engage with each other and invited experts in open and honest discussions about concerns regarding their mental and/or sexual health and wellbeing and the contributing factors. To date, 477 people have attended the monthly meetings. The above photo is Felix and Joseph promoting Men, Let's Talk at a community event sponsored by Council Member Pierina Sanchez. 

Funded by the NYC Commission on Racial Equity, Bronx Health REACH held three virtual and one in-person community conversations to solicit input on the 18 community equity priorities the Commission has identified. The above image lists six of the 18 Community Equity Priorities (CEPs) to guide city government action against racial disparities.

In 2025, a significant 2017 decision by the NYC MTA Board to ban alcohol ads on public transit was reversed. That 2017 win was the result of a grassroots campaign led by Building Alcohol Ad-Free Transit of which Bronx Health REACH was a key partner. In light of the reversal of the ban, Bronx Health REACH, the Interfaith Public Health Network, and other partners rallied together to urge reinstatement of the ban given the public health risks of alcohol and, the susceptibility to its marketing by youth, people in recovery, and communities of color.

Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives brought together Bronx Families who have lost family members to traffic violence to commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. And, importantly, to support passing the Stop Super Speeders bill.

Bronx Health REACH showcased projects at the Institute for Family Health's 13th Annual Research and Innovation Symposium. Presentations included our work on: Why the Conversation on Race and Racism Matters; Adult Vaccinations in the Bronx; and the Produce Prescription Program.

PS 32’s Open Streets: Building Relationships and Growing Capacity

 This blog post was written by Maurelhena Walles, Founder and CEO of Equity Design and Diana Bernal, Program Coordinator for the Creating Healthy Schools & Communities program at Bronx Health REACH.

Three years ago, the principal and staff of PS 32 located in the Bronx, expressed a far-reaching vision of becoming their community’s fitness hub. As part of the New York State Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) program, PS 32 teamed up with Bronx Health REACH, Equity Design, and Street Lab to make this vision happen. The first step Equity Design, whose role was facilitator, took, with the permission of PS 32’s Principal Rebecca Lew, was to gather together the school teachers and staff to assess the challenges and aspirations for improving the physical and social well-being of the school. As a result, they decided to implement Open Streets, a program that temporarily closes down a street to cars during the day to provide open space for people to gather and play. 

To successfully implement Open Streets at PS 32 every school year, teachers and school staff held team building and mind-mapping sessions to get to know each other better. Through these relationship building exercises, their school wellness council was formed. As PS 32’s school wellness council grew, so did the ideas for Open Streets events, and how to utilize them for more than just physical activity for the students. PS 32 came up with their Outdoor Learning initiative, which aimed to provide a blend of academics and physical activity. Through this initiative, the school has connected with their surrounding community and built relationships with community residents and nearby organizations. An example of an event that came together through these partnerships is PS 32’s Hispanic Heritage Month event. This event combined physical activity and academics through dancing and interactive activities centered around the cultures from different Latin/Hispanic countries. One of the teachers involved in planning the event connected the school with her church’s dance group, who performed a folkloric dance, showcasing what can be accomplished when relationships are built between a neighborhood and school community. 

Through this process of relationship building, PS 32 has brought together teachers, students, and the neighborhood community to participate in physical activity. Another collaboration coming out of Equity Design’s team building session was connecting PS 32 and Fordham University’s athletics department. The outcome of this is Fordham students volunteering at PS 32’s Open Streets events. By taking the time to build relationships, PS 32’s Open Streets program has gone from happening 3-6 times a year to now occuring once a week. 

Bodega Fresca Empowers Youth with Healthy Bodega Choices

 

This blog post was written by Kelly Moltzen, Program Manager at Bronx Health REACH.

Kids deserve access to healthy, affordable food. Unfortunately, junk foods and sugary beverages are heavily marketed to youth, especially in communities of color, making these unhealthy items too convenient for them to purchase. This leads to poor health outcomes, with 55.8% of Bronx youth consuming at least one sugary beverage per day, and making 36.4% of them overweight or obese, according to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Bronx Health REACH’s Bodega Fresca pilot project is focused on making healthy, affordable food options available in Bronx bodegas, and spreading the word to students and staff at neighborhood schools.

Since Spring 2025, Bronx Health REACH, in partnership with the Bodega and Small Business Group, Collective Fare, and the FRESCH initiative’s Shen’naque Sean Butler, have been testing our healthy grab-and-go items in bodegas in the Hunts Point and Longwood communities of the Bronx. The goal of this pilot project is to build sufficient supply and demand to establish an economically viable delivery route.  To determine which healthy products consumers would purchase, we provided taste testings of these products at participating bodegas during afterschool hours, with youth from nearby schools, as well as bodega customers and other community members, and surveyed them for their feedback. We also held taste testings at several schools in June 2025. We have used the feedback to identify which healthy products were most popular and which ones could be improved to better match the community’s tastes. 

These healthy offerings included: Mangú-Stuffed Empanaditas, Jerk Chicken Wraps, Watermelon-Cucumber Salad with Tajin-Lime Dressing, Coconut-Guava Energy Bites and Tropical Mint Cooler juice with pineapple, cucumber, lime and mint. Feedback for these products has been positive. As the Bodega Fresca team balances costs of production, distribution, and shelf life, items currently being sold in stores include two types of energy bites and three types of juices: Red Refresh Lemonade, Tropical Mint Cooler, and Coconut Ginger Glow.

This is not the first time that Bronx Health REACH has worked with local schools to promote healthy bodega initiatives. We did so previously during the Don’t Stress, Eat Fresh campaign in 2018-2019, and through the FRESCH initiative in 2020. These projects brought students to their nearby bodegas to request healthy options be sold there. This provided the students with an opportunity to learn about the importance of healthy eating and be empowered to take leadership around food justice advocacy. Also, Bronx Health REACH partner, the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center, had their Youth Food Justice Club members survey the local community’s food options to better understand the limitations in accessing healthy food options. 

Such initiatives around promoting healthy options for youth naturally fit into the aims of school wellness councils. Many schools that have wellness councils want to focus on nutrition and promoting healthy eating.  Some schools have started school gardens and some promote healthy bodega food options to students. 

Our experience over the years tells us that kids want more information about what’s in their foods and beverages. In 2019, Bronx Health REACH and the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy organized a focus group study to better understand youth perspectives on sugary beverages as well as youth opinions about messages intended to dissuade them from drinking these beverages. Findings from that study found that, Bronx youth acknowledged that sugary beverages are not healthy, that corporations can be manipulative, and that more should be done to communicate to youth about the health risks of these products. Those that participated in the focus group said that if healthier options were advertised to them, it could be influential in encouraging them and their peers to choose the healthier options. One participant said, “If you were to make a new type of drink and then put a cool name, and then lower down the sodium, the calories and the sugar and the carbohydrates, I mean it could be the new hit thing that people would want to drink to get healthy.”

Collective Fare, which is producing the grab-and-go products for the Bodega Fresca pilot, has created a Brand Ambassador Toolkit with information about the health benefits and other appealing aspects of the new line of products. This can be an entry point for schools that want to empower their students to be food justice advocates in their local community.

The Bodega Fresca project has shown promising signs for the Bronx community.  It is endorsed by Bronx Borough President Vanessa L Gibson and Francisco Marte, President of the Bodega and Small Business Group. Borough President Gibson, in an op-ed on the importance of this initiative for the Bronx Times and AMNY wrote, “I urge all of our residents to join us in bringing healthier options to our bodegas, because Healthy Bodegas make Healthy Communities.” 

If your school would like to partner with Bronx Health REACH to schedule a taste testing event or a Brand Ambassador training, please contact Diana Bernal at dibernal@institute.org