To explore facilitators and barriers to developing and sustaining collaboration among New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Neighborhood Health Action Centers and co-located partners, who share information and decisionmaking through a Governance Council structure of representative members. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2018 with 43 Governance Council members across the three Action Centers of East Harlem (13), Tremont (15), and Brownsville (15), New York City. Governance Council members identified collaboration through information-and resourcesharing, consistent meetings and continuous communication as valuable for fostering a culture of health in their communities. Immediate benefits included building relationships, increased access to resources, and increased reach and access to community members. Challenges included difficulty building community trust, insufficient advertisement of services, and navigation of government bureaucracy. The Governance Councils forged collaborative relationships among local government, community-based organizations and clinical providers to improve health and well-being in their neighborhoods. Sharing space, resources and information is feasible with a movement towards shared leadership and decision-making. This may result in community-driven and tailored solutions to historical inequities. In shared leadership models, some internal reform by Government partners may be required.

We examined disparities in sleep problems by sexual orientation among a population-based sample of adults, using data from the New York City (NYC) Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NYC HANES), a population-based, cross-sectional survey conducted in 2013-2014 (n = 1220). Two log binomial regression models were created to assess the relative prevalence of sleep problems by sexual orientation. In model 1, heterosexual adults served as the reference category, controlling for gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, and family income. And in model 2, heterosexual men served as the reference category, controlling for age, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, and family income. We found that almost 42% of NYC adults reported sleep problems in the past 2 weeks. Bisexual adults had 1.4 times the relative risk of sleep problems compared to heterosexual adults (p = 0.037). Compared to heterosexual men, heterosexual and bisexual women had 1.3 and 1.6 times the risk of sleep problems, respectively (p < 0.05). Overall, adults who self-identified as bisexual had a significantly greater risk of sleep problems than adults who self-identified as heterosexual.

In 2016 and 2017, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene established Neighborhood Health Action Centers (Action Centers) in disinvested communities of color as part of a place-based model to advance health equity. This model includes co-located partners, a referral and linkage system, and community space and programming. In 2018, we surveyed visitors to the East Harlem Action Center to provide a more comprehensive understanding of visitors’ experiences. The survey was administered in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. Respondents were racially diverse and predominantly residents of East Harlem. The majority had been to the East Harlem Action Center previously. Most agreed that the main service provider for their visit made them feel comfortable, treated them with respect, spoke in a way that was easy to understand, and that they received the highest quality of service. A little more than half of returning visitors reported engaging with more than one Action Center program in the last 6 months. Twenty-one percent of respondents reported receiving at least one referral at the Action Center. Two thirds were aware that the Action Center offered a number of programs and services and half were aware that referrals were available. Additional visits to the Action Center were associated with increased likelihood of engaging with more than one program and awareness of the availability of programs and referral services. Findings suggest that most visitors surveyed had positive experiences, and more can be done to promote the Action Center and the variety of services it offers.

Background: African Americans in New York City (NYC) are more likely to have sedentary lifestyles and lack access to physical activity (PA) opportunities. In 2015, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) initiated a church-placed PA program to provide PA opportunities in underserved communities in NYC. Objective: To explore whether characteristics of a church-placed PA program such as location, type of exercise equipment, used and timing of classes were associated with PA uptake in church-going African Americans. Design and setting: This cross-sectional study used the Posttest Only Design. A sufficiently powered sample size (327) was obtained from NYCDOHMH survey data from church-placed PA program in African American churches. We hypothesized that the location of the church, time of day exercise classes were held and the type of exercise equipment used impacted PA participation. Participants: Program participants were drawn from the participating churches. Intervention: Weekly exercise classes were led by paid fitness instructors. Churches also received free exercise equipment. Measures: Bivariate analyses tested for association between PA uptake and the convenience of the church location, the type of exercise equipment used and time of the day exercise classes were offered. Results: We found that there were associations between the convenience of the church location and PA participation (p=0.001) and the time of the day exercises classes were held and PA participation (p = 0.018) but not for the type exercise equipment used and PA participation (p = 0.209). Conclusion: Overall, the church location, and the timing of exercise classes significantly impact PA uptake among church-going African Americans in NYC.