Office of Minority Health

The Rhode Island Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health (OMH) was created in June 1992 by the state legislature (Article 102, Title 23, and Chapter 64 of the Public Laws of Rhode Island), which allocated a portion of the revenues from a tax imposed on smokeless tobacco to the OMH. The OMH is currently funded through general revenue funds of the State. The OMH is located in the new Division of Community Health and Equity within the Department of Health.

Vision
All racial and ethnic minority populations in Rhode Island will have equal opportunity to live safe and healthy lives in safe and healthy communities.

Mission
To facilitate access to health information, education and risk reduction activities for racial and ethnic minority communities and to develop policies, plans and tracking systems for ensuring that the needs of these communities are integrated and addressed within all HEALTH programs.

Anticipated Outcomes

1. Racial and ethnic disparities are eliminated by 2010
2. Racial and ethnic minority populations have equal access to high quality health services

Functions

1. Coordinating resource acquisition and training relating to racial and ethnic minority health
   OMH provides direct training, contracts, data symposiums, videoconferences, public forums and resource directories on: a) the health status of racial and ethnic minority populations; b) model programs and best practices known to be effective in working with racial and ethnic minority populations; c) resources available at the State and Federal levels; and d) skills-based cultural competency training for HEALTH staff.
2. Facilitating access for racial and ethnic minority communities to HEALTH programs and resources
   OMH fulfills this function by (a) conducting education and outreach to community organizations in order to provide information on minority health problems of concern; (b) creating linkages between community organizations and HEALTH so as to improve community-access to HEALTH programs; (c) linking community organizations to resources in the private and public sector; and (d) stimulating mechanisms generally for increasing awareness of racial and ethnic minority health issues.
3. Providing funding and technical assistance to racial and ethnic communities
   OMH works directly with racial and ethnic minority populations, through (a) the Request-for-Proposal process for the development of Minority Health Promotion Centers and Minority Health Mini-Grant Projects; and (b) provision of bi-monthly technical assistance workshops designed to provide information and enhance skill sets using available public health resources.
4. Monitoring HEALTH activities related to disease prevention, health promotion, service delivery and research concerning racial and ethnic minority populations
   OMH fulfills this function through (a) analysis of existing initiatives and programs to assess their responsiveness and applicability to the populations; (b) review of budgets to assess the distribution of public health dollars allocated to minority health programs, and (c) serving on proposal review committees.
5. Participating in policy development and decision-making regarding minority health
   OMH activities include: (a) working with the members of the MHAC and the HEALTH Executive Committee to use existing data to identify areas of priority for HEALTH; and (b) assisting HEALTH in developing policies and plans for ensuring that the needs of racial and ethnic minorities are addressed by all HEALTH programs.

Resources
The Office is staffed by three full-time professional staff persons with additional part-time support. The Office's expenditures were: