Office of Minority Health

MISSION:

The mission of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) is to improve and protect the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will eliminate health disparities.

OMH was established in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). It advises the Secretary and the Office of Public Health and Science on public health program activities affecting American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Black/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders.

Get it Done

HIV/AIDS continues to impact Communities of Color in Rochester, New York at a disproportionate rate to that of any other communities. To deal with this issue, The Get It Done initiative, funded by the Office of Minority Health, was implemented as a collaborative effort between MOCHA Project, Inc. and Black Men Latino Men Health Crisis Inc (BMLMHC).

Get It Done is a community-level health promotion/disease risk reduction intervention that was distinctively designed by People of Color, for People of Color. It is also the only known Rochester area program that includes HIV vaccine research awareness information.

The Get it Done initiative utilizes the unique and historical relationship that exists between barbers & hairdressers, and their customers in Communities of Color. Such relationships may help to create an atmosphere of trust, whereby life-saving health and HIV/STD prevention messages may be shared and favorably received by all.

Get It Done also provides a trusted link between Communities of Color and the HIV Vaccine Trails Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center in an effort to increase awareness about local HIV Vaccine research studies.

Fore more information, please call 585-420-1400.