COVID-19 Vaccination Outreach and Plan for the Minority Community

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

In 2019, Covid-19 took the United States by storm killing hundreds of thousands and infecting millions. New Hanover County faced the pandemic as most communities and quickly realized our minority communities had been hit hardest. Today there are more than 27 million Corona Virus cases in the US, 800,000 in North Carolina and more than 16,000 cases in New Hanover County. Infection rates among people of color continued to climb. Initially testing efforts and vaccination numbers were extremely low in these communities. The race population for New Hanover County is comprised of 83.46% whites, 14.06% African Americans, and 2.48% other. 94.20% of New Hanover County’s ethnicity is non-Hispanic or Latino.In an effort to address this growing problem, the county’s Office of Diversity and Equity got to work launching a series of grassroots efforts. They reached out to local pastors and key leaders and created the Pastor’s HUB, a virtual monthly meeting with county staff and other partners to discuss the urgent needs of our minority communities during the pandemic. In a few days, churches signed up to host and recruit residents for testing sites and eventually vaccine sites as well. The number of minorities tested went from single digits per week to hundreds within a few months. And today thanks to the Pastor’s HUB and our constant partnerships we have provided vaccines for more than 1800 minorities and made more than 15 testing sites available in local churches and community centers.