Mission

The African American Health Coalition is dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles and advocating for healthy communities for people of African descent.

History

The African American Health Coalition (AfAHC) of the Metropolitan Houston Area is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.  Since 1992, this organization has been addressing issues of minority health disparities.  The coalition initially grew from the Texas Minority Health Summit, which was convened in San Antonio, Texas on May 13-14, 1992.  The participants focused on the need to take control of the problem of widespread inapplicability of health programs to minority communities.  The purpose of the summit was to build a network of persons committed to improving the health of Texas African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans.  The "Core" Group of individuals present agreed to convene local minority health networks in their respective cities.  It was expected that participants would identify actions they could take in three major categories: 1)Legislation, 2)Neighborhood Action and 3)Media
Attention.

On June 1, 1992, the Houston Coalition(Core Group)held its first meeting and the group decided to officially be called the Houston Minority Health Coalition(HMHC).  In keeping with the Texas Minority Health Summit the group made plans to include all of the ethnic minority groups.

The Houston Minority Health Coalition was effective sponsoring political forums, participating in statewide minority health conferences and establishing neighborhood and media action events.  Due to increased networking, member involvement and continued participation throughout the city in 1994 the coalition changed its name to more adequately reflect the areas being served.  The new name became the Houston Area Minority Health Coalition(HAMHC).

From 1994 to 1997 many joint minority health activities were held for the various ethnic communities.  Due to the vast disparity recognized by each ethnic group and a continued committed desire to advocate and educate communities of color, coalition members began to organize and present targeted activities for their communities.  One such group was The Greater Houston African American Health Coalition, initiated in 1995.  All of the coalitions increased minority disparity awareness in theory but efforts were short lived due to unavailable funding locally and decreased support from the Region VI office.  Therefore on January 27, 1997 the health Community Alliance of Southeast Texas(HCASET)was created.  This organization was an attempt to continue the good work already being done and was described as a coalition of coalitions including the African American Health Coalition, Asian Health Coalition, Houston Healthy Coalition and Hispanic Health Coalition.  The Native American Health Coalition was added later.  Thru this collaboration, HCASET was able to apply for and receive minority health coalition grant funding, which provided funding for the many collaborative activities that were created.  The Greater Houston Area Education Committee(AHEC)served as the neutral fiduciary and host partner for this coalition.