Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI)
The California State University, Northridge Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program is generously funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health Grant # 1P20MD003938. RIMI was designed to support minority institutions that require additional support to build the infrastructure necessary to study and reduce health disparities.
CSUN RIMI
California State University, Northridge is located in the City and County of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a region of the country that has transformed dramatically in the past 10-20 years to become increasingly represented by individuals of Latin American and Asian American descent (Los Angeles Almanac, 2009). In 2007, 18.5% of the Los Angeles population fell below the federal poverty line (8% were 50% or more below the poverty line) while 12.4% of California’s general population fell below the poverty line (5.1% were 50% or more below the poverty line). Income disparities for African American (25.5% below poverty line LA vs. 20.4% CA) and Latino (24.4% LA vs. 17.7% CA) populations in Los Angeles are even higher and indicate that poverty may be an underlying mechanism that can explain health disparities in Los Angeles.
Because of its ethnic composition, fully 436,571 Latino/a Angelenos live below the poverty line. Statistics suggest that children and individuals with less than a high school education are particularly at risk for poverty. Fully 46% of Latino children and 37% of African American, 21% of Asian American and 8% of white children live below the poverty line. (Yancey, n.d.). In this environment, California State University, Northridge (CSUN) has great potential to address the links between poverty, race and health through health disparities research, and to contribute to reducing and eliminating health disparities through increased research capacity of its faculty and students.
Click here for a link to a short video on RIMI.