with chronic and acute conditions—such as cancer, diabetes, musculoskeletal disease, obesity, and hypertension—and suffer worse health outcomes, worse health status, and higher mortality rates than their White counterparts. (3) Several recent studies also show that health disparities are a function of not only access to health care, but also the social determinants of health—including the environment, the physical structure of communities, nutrition and food options, educational attainment and health literacy, employment, race, ethnicity, immigration status, geography, and language preference—that directly and indirectly affect the health, health care, and wellness of individuals and communities. (4) Integrally involving and fully supporting the communities most affected by health inequities in the assessment, planning, launch, and evaluation of health disparity elimination efforts are among the leading recommendations made to adequately address and ultimately reduce health disparities. (5) Recommendations also include supporting the efforts of community stakeholders from a broad cross section—including local businesses, local departments of commerce, education, labor, urban planning, and transportation, and community-based and other nonprofit organizations, including national and regional intermediaries with demonstrated capacity to serve low-income urban communities—to find areas of common ground around health disparity elimination and collaborate to improve the overall health and wellness of a community and its residents. 453. Designation of health empowerment zones (a) In general The Secretary may, at the request of an eligible community partnership described in subsection (b)(1), designate an eligible area described in subsection (b)(2) as a health empowerment zone for the purpose of eligibility for a grant under section 455. (b) Eligibility criteria (1) Eligible community partnership A community partnership is eligible to submit a request under this section if the partnership— (A) demonstrates widespread