The IGNITE Study on Concentrated Investment in Black Neighborhoods

NCT ID: NCT05541653

Last Updated: 2025-09-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 571 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-09-29
• Study Completion Date: 2026-06-30

Brief Summary

Black Americans in the US fare worse across nearly every health indicator compared to White individuals. In Philadelphia, the location of this study, these health disparities culminate in a stark longevity gap, with average life expectancies in poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods being 20 years lower than in nearby affluent, predominantly White neighborhoods. The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a suite of place-based and financial-wellbeing interventions at the community, organization, and individual/household levels that address the social determinants of racial health disparities. At the community level, the investigators address underinvestment in Black neighborhoods by implementing vacant lot greening, abandoned house remediation, tree planting, and trash cleanup. At the organization level, the investigators partner with community-based financial empowerment providers to develop cross-organizational infrastructure to increase reach and maximize efficiency. At the individual/household levels, the investigators increase access to public benefits, financial counseling and tax preparation services, and emergency cash assistance. The investigators will test this "big push" intervention in 60 Black neighborhood microclusters, with a total of 720 adults. The investigators hypothesize that this "big push" intervention will have significant impact on overall health and wellbeing.

Detailed Description

Black individuals in the United States fare worse than White individuals across almost every social, economic, and health indicator. The Black health disadvantage starts at birth, reflecting the cumulative toll of racialized social stressors and healthcare discrimination on maternal health and resulting in higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight. Black youth are disproportionately exposed to environmental toxins such as lead and adverse childhood events such as financial hardship and neighborhood violence. Black adults have higher rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, hypertension, as well as many cancers. These and other forces culminate in a stark racial longevity gap: in Philadelphia, the location of this study, life expectancy for people living in a poor, predominantly Black neighborhood is 20 years lower than for people living in a nearby affluent, predominantly White neighborhood.

The fundamental cause of these striking and pervasive disparities is structural racism - the confluence of deep historical, institutional, cultural, and ideological forces that unequally distribute resources and risks across racialized groups. Structural racism patterns health by affecting a range of interconnected, mutually reinforcing social determinants of health at the national, neighborhood, household, and individual levels. Most notably, longstanding, systematic disinvestment has resulted in highly segregated Black neighborhoods with dilapidated environmental conditions and severe economic insecurity within Black households, leading to a "feedback loop of concentrated racial disadvantage," all of which have been strongly tied to poor health.

Most interventions seeking to address racial health disparities focus on individual-level behaviors and outcomes, or individual channels by which structural racism harms health. However, by failing to address upstream social determinants, these interventions have had limited population level impact. A multi-level, multi-component intervention package focused on a range of social determinants of health is necessary to meaningfully address structural racism as a fundamental cause of racial health disparities.

Conditions

Financial Stress; Economic Problems; Environmental Exposure; Health Behavior; Health, Subjective; Mental Health Wellness 1

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention

At the individual level, participants in the intervention arm receive place-based and financial well-being interventions.

These include, at the individual level:

• Tax preparation
• Access to public benefits
• Financial counseling and microgrants

At the neighborhood level:

• Abandoned house remediation
• Trash cleanup
• Vacant lot greening
• Tree planting

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Financial Well-being Interventions

Intervention Type: OTHER

Tax preparation; access to public benefits; financial counseling and microgrants

Place-based Interventions

Intervention Type: OTHER

Vacant lot greening; abandoned house remediation; trash cleanup; and tree planting.

Control

Participants in the control arm will not receive any of the listed interventions.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Financial Well-being Interventions

Tax preparation; access to public benefits; financial counseling and microgrants

Intervention Type: OTHER

Place-based Interventions

Vacant lot greening; abandoned house remediation; trash cleanup; and tree planting.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• At least 18 years of age
• Have the ability to communicate via text messaging
• Individuals comfortable communicating in English
• A permanent resident of the home where they are to be enrolled
• Have knowledge of their household finances

Exclusion Criteria

• Individuals who plan to move out of the study microcluster within 6 months
• Individuals who are unable to fully consent and participate based on recruitment team assessment

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Eugenia Garvin

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

850178

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id