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#Not62 Rally Calls on the Mayor and the Governor to make the health of the Bronx A PRIORITY! Mon, Oct 29 at 10:30am on the steps of Bronx Supreme Court, 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451

#Not62 Rally Calls on the Mayor and the Governor to make the health of the Bronx A PRIORITY! Mon, Oct 29 at 10:30am on the steps of Bronx Supreme Court, 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451

New York, NY (October 26, 2018) — To bring attention to The Bronx County’s ranking of 62 out of the 62 New York State counties in health over the past eight years, a #Not62 Rally will be held on Monday, October 29th at 10:30 a.m. on the steps of the Bronx Supreme Court, 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451. Clergy and lay leaders from several Bronx based churches and community groups will join the rally to call on the Mayor and the Governor to make the health of the Bronx a priority.

For the past nine years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin have released the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Report that measures health outcomes and contributing factors such as education, employment, income and the environment that contributes to a community’s health and the quality of life of their residents. The 2018 report ranked Bronx County 62 out of the 62 counties in New York State, as it has in each previous report.

“The Bronx Health REACH Coalition and its many partners and collaborators have been working hard to ensure that Bronx residents have all the opportunities they need to be healthier, but we can only do so much. If the Bronx is to no longer rank dead last in all New York State counties in health outcomes, the health of its residents must become a priority of the elected leadership of New York City and New York State and the entire Bronx community,” remarked Charmaine Ruddock, Project Director for Bronx Health REACH. “Our rally is to spotlight the 62 ranking and to ask Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to prioritize the Bronx in all areas of their respective administrations. They must ensure that the Bronx has an equitable share of the resources of the City and the State so that all Bronx residents will eventually enjoy lives of good health.”

Dr. Neil Calman, President and CEO of the Institute for Family Health, which founded and has led the Bronx Health REACH Coalition since 1999, stated, “It is critical that the state and the city work together to address social determinants of health – housing, education, and employment – in order to make real, sustainable changes in the health of the community.”

“The #Not62 Rally is an intentional social action that provides Bronx Health REACH with the opportunity to generate within the larger Bronx community, a greater awareness that there are continuing and unacceptable tragic and harmful institutional practices and policies, as well as other conditions and behaviors in the community, that operate to make the Bronx the unhealthiest County in the State of New York,” said Pastor Robert Lewis Foley, Sr. from Cosmopolitan Church of the Lord Jesus in the Bronx. “These adverse operations and conditions must be totally abandoned or sufficiently changed if we are to produce a more positive and favorable result. The goal of the #Not62 Rally is to challenge local and state government, the medical community and the Bronx community itself to move from a state of indifference and inertia towards a practical and unified corrective strategy, upheld by the unwavering resolve and determination of all concerned, to liberate the Bronx from its shocking predicament as the most unhealthy county in the State of New York.”

In 2014 #Not62-The Campaign for A Healthy Bronx was launched by the Bronx Borough President, the Bronx District Public Health Office, the Institute for Family Health/Bronx Health REACH, and Montefiore Health Systems, Inc. as a direct response to the ranking.

As a founding member of #Not62 – The Campaign for a Healthy Bronx, the Institute for Family Health/Bronx Health REACH Coalition is proud of its efforts to serve as a model of community empowerment that demonstrates how to build healthier communities; promote primary prevention through healthy behaviors; increase awareness of racial and ethnic disparities and promote health equity.