OBJECTIVES: Cardiovascular health disparities continue to pose a major public health problem. We hypothesize that the use of existing social networks in hypertension management can help hypertension control rates.  Through the Maryland Cardiovascular Promotion Program (MVP), we evaluated the effect of education administered within social clusters on the improvement of blood pressure in African Americans in the Baltimore metropolitan area.  METHODS: MVP patients, compared to historical controls, were enrolled in the intervention group and asked to recruit peers to the program and form small groups to attend monthly hypertension education sessions. Hypertension was identified when systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg or/and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg; and SBP ≥ 130 mmHg or/and DBP ≥80 mmHg in those with diabetes.  We built binary logit regression models at follow-up of 6, 12, and 18 months, to assess the likelihood of reaching goal (130/80 mmHg for diabetics and 140/90 mmHg for others), controlling for group assignment, diabetes, smoking, baseline hypertension, and demographics. We also built regression models for absolute reduction in BP. RESULTS: Out of 530 patients, most were African American. In the adjusted models, the MVP group had a larger drop in mean absolute SBP than the control, with the gap growing larger over time. The MVP group was more likely to ever reach treatment goal at 18 months (OR=1.72, P=0.06), and more likely to reach goal more than once at 12 months (OR=2.61, P=0.03) and 18 months (OR=19.1, P<0.001) of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The clustering of patients in social networks around hypertension education has a positive impact on the management of hypertension. Such approaches based on existing social networks in minority populations may help improve cardiovascular outcomes and address health disparities.