PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT - OVERALL Health disparities are a significant problem in Arkansas, arguing for research to eliminate them. The development and support of researchers and communities who can conduct research to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these disparities and test the effectiveness of strategies to achieve health equity is essential. In the proposed bridge funding year, we will continue to complete research in minority health disparities, promote the training of a diverse research workforce, disseminate research findings, and foster collaborations and partnerships through the activities of the Arkansas Center for Health Disparities (ARCHD). The ARCHD builds on 15 years of strong, collaborative work as a Center of Excellence, continuing its thematic focus on developing multidisciplinary, multilevel research that reduces chronic disease risk factors for which there are significant health disparities among socially disadvantaged African American communities, with a goal of improving health and quality of life and ultimately eliminating health disparities. ARCHD will maintain three core units – an Administrative Core to provide overall coordination and management of Center activities, including the coordination of common data elements, evaluation, and methods expertise; an Investigator Development Core, to continue a pilot project program for early stage investigators and to provide mentorship and guidance; and a Community Engagement and Dissemination Core, to expand and facilitate equitable, sustainable, collaborative relationships with community and other stakeholders and to coordinate dissemination of research findings to diverse audience segments. The Center will continue two full research projects, both using a community health worker model to deliver interventions to disadvantaged African American populations, i.e., female African American tobacco users in rural communities and recently incarcerated African Americans at high risk of contracting HIV. We will also continue to foster additional research addressing minority health disparities, the dissemination of which may inform efforts to create systematic change in policies, programs, and environments to reduce and eliminate health disparities. Consistent with the theme of the ARCHD, the long-term goal of this study is to reduce the burden of multiple tobacco exposures, improve access to preventive care, and reduce the risk for chronic diseases among socially disadvantaged African American women and children. Cigarette smoking prevalence among African American Arkansan women is nearly double the overall smoking prevalence for African American women in the United States and rates are increasing among African American women in AR. Health disparities are often systematically linked to social disadvantage and socially disadvantaged African American women and children have poorer access to preventive health care, disproportionately higher rates of secondhand smoke exposure, and l...