title: Transforming the urban food desert from the grassroots up: a model for community change.
abstract: Confronted by continuing health disparities in vulnerable communities, Community Health Councils (CHC), a nonprofit community-based organization in South Los Angeles, worked with the African Americans Building a Legacy of Health Coalition and research partners to develop a community change model to address the root causes of health disparities within the community's African American population. This article discusses how the CHC Model's development and application led to public policy interventions in a "food desert." The CHC Model provided a systematic approach to engaging impacted communities in support of societal level reforms, with the goal to influence health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California, 650 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA90089-0626, USA. llewis@sppd.usc.edu
authors.forename: LaVonna Blair
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Lark
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galloway-Gilliam
authors.forename: Gwendolyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nomachi
authors.forename: LaTonya Chavis
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Keener
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sloane
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D057191:Capacity Building; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006265:Health Care Coalitions; D006286:Health Planning Councils; D006302:Health Services Research; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012922:Social Change; D013597:Systems Analysis; D014504:Urban Health / Q000592:standards*