YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Youngstown-based State Representative, Lauren McNally has announced on Friday the awarding of several state funds from the Ohio Commission on Minority Health for two projects in the Youngstown City Health District.

These funds include $100,000 for the North End Community Improvement Collab and another $15,000 for the Local Conversation Round 3.

"These funds will help the City of Youngstown in easing the health burdens on our families by learning more about why some in our community experience these burdens more severely than others," McNally said.

The Local Conversations Initiative was launched in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

It initiated the strategy of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities to "mobilize and connect individuals and organizations across the country to create a Nation free of health disparities with quality health outcomes for all people."

This funding will provide communities an opportunity to review and update their previous efforts, which identified priorities in addressing health disparities and equity with an expanded focus on the significant impacts of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic populations/