Appalachian Diabetes Coalitions Win Grants for Community Initiatives

WASHINGTON, December 20, 2011—The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, and Marshall University announced today the selection of five Appalachian diabetes coalitions to receive grant funding and enhanced support services through the Appalachian Diabetes Control and Translation Project (ADCTP). Each coalition will receive an initial $40,000 grant for local efforts to prevent and control diabetes, along with training and technical assistance. The grants are renewable for up to four years, for a total of up to $160,000 for each recipient.

The selected coalitions include:

• Lawrence County Community Diabetes/Health Advisory Team (Louisa, Kentucky)
• Graham County STEP UP Coalition (Robbinsville, North Carolina)
• Adams-Brown Diabetes Education Coalition (Georgetown, Ohio)
• Meigs County Health Council (Decatur, Tennessee)
• Mingo County Diabetes Coalition (Williamson, West Virginia)

The Appalachian Region faces a number of serious health problems, including high rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases. Since 2002, ARC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have partnered with Marshall University's Center for Rural Health to support a network of local diabetes coalitions in the Region's economically distressed communities. These coalitions organize community-based efforts to provide diabetes education and prevention services for thousands of Appalachians each year. Typical activities include "diabetes self-management" training for patients and their families; school nutrition and farm-to-table initiatives; workplace wellness services; and efforts to encourage physical activity for people of all ages.

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Together on Diabetes initiative joined the ADCTP effort in 2011, committing $2.6 million in new resources to the program. Together on Diabetes is a five-year, $100 million initiative launched in November 2010 to improve health outcomes of Americans living with type 2 diabetes by strengthening patient self-management education, community-based supportive services, and broad-based community mobilization. In line with the foundation's mission to reduce health disparities, the initiative targets adult populations disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.

In November 2011, 23 diabetes coalitions from across Appalachia submitted applications for the ADCTP enhanced funding and support services funded by ARC, CDC, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. Representatives from the five selected coalitions will attend a training conference in January 2012, then design and complete new initiatives to expand the impact of their coalition partnerships. Through this project, these groups will develop new ways to help people prevent and control diabetes, while building their communities' capacity to sustain these efforts. All 23 groups that applied will remain part of the ADCTP network of more than 70 Appalachian coalitions and as such will continue to benefit from training and technical assistance services.

A second round of funding planned for 2012 will support five additional coalitions.