• Launched a farmers’ market with the Inkster Task Force
• Improved nutrition standards at early care and education (ECE) sites using Go NAPSACC.
• Helped sites with Farm to ECE goals like building gardens & receiving food from local farmers.
• Founded the Western Wayne County Food Policy Council
• Supported environmental changes at food pantries to make it easier to select healthy choices.

• Partnered with the Friends of the Rouge to develop the Lower Rouge River Water Trail and Greenway through awareness activities and community engagement in the design of trailheads.
• Supported the creation of a bike and pedestrian plan in Westland and the city’s first bike lane.
• Convened a Safe Routes to Schools planning team with Wayne-Westland School District.

• Supported the Espresso Milk Collective, a Black breastfeeding support group run by Your goodVillage Collective.
• Launched AmaMantando, a bilingual breastfeeding support group for Hispanic/Latino mothers.

• Partnered with Western Wayne Family Health Centers to develop an embedded referral mechanism into the Athena electronic health record (EHR) to refer patients to community-based and evidence-based programs, such as Diabetes Prevention Program & Black breastfeeding support groups.
• Worked with Hope Clinic to implement a sustainable manual referral mechanism that meets the needs of their patients.
• Onboarded Blue Dove Pharmacy as a screening partner for the NKFM’s WISEWOMAN program.

• Translated FINDING YOUR WAY: A Roadmap To Social Systems And Resources in Wayne County into Spanish.
• Identified the need for local health and wellness information and education for Hispanics and Latinos through community health needs assessment and established a Health and Well-Being Room at St. Mary Parish in March 2022.
• Gleaners Community Food Bank hosted a 6-week Cooking Matters class, the first community organization to host a Spanish-speaking nutrition class.
• Conducted communications campaigns, including quarterly community newsletters.
• Facilitated Cultural Competency Training for health professionals and religious organizations.

2023

Click here to read about our Farm to ECE successes.

Click here to read about our Inkster Task Force Farmers Market successes.

2022

Click here to read about our success with the Resource Room at St. Mary’s.

Click here to read about our success with AmaMantando, a Latina breastfeeding support group.

• Shopinski, S., Tejada, T., Jenkins, H., Raad, S., Quinn, M., & Lachance, L. (2023). Paddling Together: Water Trails as Innovative Public Health Strategies. Health Promotion Practice, 24(1_suppl), 41S-45S.
• Lachance, L., Shopinski, S., Tejada, T., Jenkins, H., & Quinn, M. (2023). Equitable Change in Community Built Environments for Family Health: REACH River Rouge Project. In (pp. 129-160). Springer Nature Switzerland. Conference Presentation
• Shopinski S. “REACH for the Stars.” 2023 Social Determinants of Health Summit, 24-26 January 2023, Conference Presentation. · McCormick M, Shopinski S, Tejada T. Considering Racial and Health Equity in City Planning. Planning Michigan 2020, 7-9 October 2020, Conference Presentation.
• Tejada T. “Building a Sustainable Community along the Lower Rouge River.” MI Outdoor Summit, 27 September 2023, Conference Presentation.

Additional funding was made available to REACH grantees to reduce disparities in flu uptake and ensure communities of color had education and access to COVID-19 vaccines. NKFM extended its geographic target area for these efforts to include Detroit, primarily Southwest Detroit, and individuals with kidney disease.

We supported more than 500 activities from October 2020-September 2023, providing the following:

• Outreach events to educate on the importance of vaccination while addressing concerns
• Vaccination opportunities at community events
• Information and resources on how to stay safe as the pandemic evolved through monthly virtual and in-person information sessions. These can be viewed at www.youtube.com/KidneyMI
• Weekly update emails to trusted messengers
• Social media campaigns
• Yearly community vaccine needs assessments (Click to view the 2021 and 2022 reports)
• Vaccine education and resource navigation for individuals with CKD and dialysis centers via our Peer Mentor program
• Vaccine Trusted Messenger Training

• Valenzuela, M. Rethinking Access to Vaccines through Small Community Organizations Serving Racial and Ethnic Minorities. 2023
• Association of Immunization Managers Leadership in Action Conference, 5-7 December, 2023.
• National Minority Quality Forum’s Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity, Kidney Disease, Health & You webinar: NMQF-SHC Webinar | Kidney Disease, Health & You
• REACHing for Health Equity: Kidney Disease and Vaccines webinar. Click here to view.
• REACHing for Health Equity: Kidney Disease podcast episode. Click here to listen.
• Don’t Throw Away Your Shot presentation: Don’t Throw Away Your Shot!