Penn researchers score $10M grant to study racial health disparities

Philadelphia researchers scored a nearly $10 million federal grant to study how investments in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city can affect racial health disparities and violent crime.

Why it matters: Philly's poverty rate — currently at 23% — has remained high for decades. And Black residents experience poverty at far higher rates than their white counterparts, according to 2019 U.S. Census data.

• A recent study found that investing in repairs for even a single house on a Philadelphia block reduced crime on that block by nearly 22%.

Driving the news: The National Institutes of Health recently awarded the grant to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

• They'll work across 60 Black neighborhoods in Philly as part of the five-year study, Penn Medicine revealed Thursday.

What they're doing: Half of the participants in the research will receive economic and environmental interventions as part of the study, according to Penn Medicine.

• Communities will receive tree plantings and trash cleanup, as well as help rehabilitating abandoned and dilapidated homes, among other things.
• Households will be connected with local, state and federal benefits.

What they're saying: "Black communities are centered in this proposal," said Dr. Eugenia South, a lead researcher for the study, in a news release.