The Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center was awarded $2 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support programs aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities among minority populations.

The Wai'anae facility was one of 40 organizations selected from 22 states across the country to receive funding for such projects.

The five-year grant will support the health center's E Ola Koa community action plan, which translated means, "May one live with the health, wealth and longevity of a koa tree."

The plan will augment local efforts to reduce obesity rates and cardiovascular disease among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, according to a news release from the center.

The funding will support a local farmers market that will increase the availability of healthy products.

In addition, physical activity will be promoted through cultural and nutritional activities, such as gardening.

The Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center's collaborating partners on the CDC grant include the Waimanalo Health Center, University of Hawai'i's School of Social Work, MA'O organic farms of Wai'anae, Waipa Foundation on Kaua'i, Hoa 'Aina O Makaha, and Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a Native Hawaiian plant nursery on O'ahu.

"The Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center is pleased to receive this funding," said Sheila Beckham, director of preventive health at the health center and principal investigator of the CDC grant.

"We are dedicated to reducing, and possibly eliminating, the myriad of health disparities affecting our community," she said.