Suzanne Bohan

The Neighborhood Atlas gives journalists an intriguing new tool to visualize how social advantages vary across cities and regions.

In low-income neighborhoods beset by predatory lending and check-cashing hubs, options for building credit and savings are scarce. A credit union that opened last year seeks to change that.

<p>Join Dr. Robert Smith with the American Cancer Society and Dr. Chris Flowers with UCSF to discuss the science behind the new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines. Log on at www.contracostatimes.com.</p&gt;

<p>On Thursday, Bay Area News Group (Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, etc.) hosted a live online chat with Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General, and Rich Hamburg, deputy director of Trust for America's Health. Health reporter Sandy Kleffman and I (the science reporter for the chain) moderated it.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Both men responded to questions posted by participants on how Congressional health reform legislation offers an unprecedented amount of funds for disease prevention, and funds for novel programs to improve health by improving neighborhoods. It's archived at:&nbsp;</p>

<p>While reporting for a four-part series on the wide gap in life expectancies and disease rates between people in nearby neighborhoods – due to drastically different conditions and social status – I expected to find that health care reform legislation would do little to address this issue. The reform legislation, after all, is primarily about health care insurance. But I was surprised to find that, for the first time, Congressional legislation contains at least $3.4 billion to focus on improving health disparities.