Poor hypertension control has dire consequences for the African-American population who suffer greater death and disability from heart disease, stroke, and renal failure than whites. To reduce these health disparities it is critical to promote of a healthy lifestyle in regard to diet, exercise, adherence to medications, as well as other behaviors. However, physicians usually fail to address lifestyle behaviors in the context of the harried patient visit. Therefore, the investigators hypothesized that the investigators could reduce cardiovascular risk by providing additional support to persons with poorly controlled hypertension through phone calls from trained peer patients and visits to an office support staff member.