What to know
Recipients of the National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities grant are telling their success stories of how they are addressing COVID-19-related health disparities and advancing health equity through programs and activities funded by the grant.
Overview
When community health workers from local community-based organizations faced skepticism and mistrust from members of the community, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene implemented a series of quarterly peer-2-peer learning collaborative sessions to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations to advance health equity and enhance COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.
Challenge
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (DOHMH) collaboration with community-based organizations (CBOs) has been pivotal in helping safeguard the public's health, especially during emergencies. During the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, community health workers (CHWs) from local CBOs played a vital role in disseminating accurate health information and facilitating access to essential services. However, as the focus shifted to vaccination outreach, hesitancy among certain communities emerged, often among racial lines. According to polls conducted in October 2020, black and Latino New Yorkers had lower vaccine intentions (31% and 47% respectively) compared to white New Yorkers (70%)1. Despite efforts to combat misinformation, CHWs faced skepticism and mistrust from members of the community, leading to difficulties in effectively engaging these communities and increasing vaccination rates. Additionally, barriers to information sharing among CBOs hindered the coordination and exchange of resources, further complicating the collective pandemic response. DOHMH and the CBOs they partnered with had to come up with a way to share accurate information across organizations and with at-risk groups.
Solution
To address these challenges, DOHMH implemented a series of quarterly peer-2-peer (P2P) learning collaborative sessions. These sessions aimed to strengthen CBOs' capacity to advance health equity and enhance COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities Grant, the P2P sessions provided an opportunity for CBO partners to share experiences, lessons learned, and strategies for effective community engagement to eliminate health disparities, while networking and building critical relationships. Participants from various roles within the CBOs ensured a diverse perspective and helped to co-facilitate the guided discussions.
Outcome
Over the course of five P2P learning collaborative sessions, attended by 70 participants across 26 organizations representing all five New York City boroughs, multiple community engagement strategies were explored in depth. Successful community engagement strategies included sharing powerful stories and personal testimonials to promote vaccines, setting up health hubs in churches to reach people where they were, and improving digital media outreach to community members through social media and newsletters. Knowing that sharing statistics was not increasing vaccine uptake, the sessions focused on building capacity of organizations to support wraparound services and reach community members to build trust to ultimately increase confidence and uptake. Participants left the trainings equipped with new ideas, partnership opportunities, and actionable strategies to drive positive change and advance health equity within their communities. CBOs have begun implementing these learned strategies and continue to share their progress with DOHMH on a regular basis, demonstrating the continued impact and power of collaboration on community well-being.