The coming year:
1) We will do community education and outreach around Covid and the vaccines, with a focus in particular on youth. We will:
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Develop and share out messaging that educates and motivates youth from 5 through teen years to get vaccinated. We will distribute widely a youth-led video that we just released. We will work with City officials (BPHC, BPS, MOIA and others), state officials (DPH, DEA and others), as well as our and allies social media channels to share out the video widely. We will continue to develop messaging related to vaccine information and access – regarding vaccines for 5-11 years olds, booster shots, and information and resources regarding the Delta and Omicron Covid variants. We will message on radio, television and social media in all communities’ first languages.
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“Work with schools and other community partners to hold vaccine clinics where parents feel comfortable bringing their children if they lack a primary care physician. We are working with the City now to identify community sites and partner schools to do so. We will provide incentives like grocery gift cards and supports – including helping families to enroll in health insurance.
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We will work with our partner We Got Us, a Black and brown youth organization led by people working in or planning to enter the medical profession, to hold workshops on health equity and vaccine education geared toward young audiences. We will deliver this workshop at schools and youth groups, reaching hundreds of youth.
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We will continue to organize community-based vaccine clinics (combining with flu clinics where feasible), where we bring in providers (BMC, MGB, WSHC, HSCHC, BBCC and others) to trusted community settings to administer vaccines. See our current calendar with results since July 2021:
2) Given that all our communities have large % of constituents unenrolled in health insurance because of immigration or other issues, we will develop a system to educate and support residents to access health insurance with advocates who do so. While advocacy groups and government officials have programs to enroll those without insurance, our communities in general do not access them. We will work with advocates and providers to enroll hundreds of families in health insurance and ensure ongoing care by PCPs.
3) We will grow and bring together a broader coalition of 40+ immigrant groups, health care providers and government officials every 6-8 weeks throughout the year. We will use these sessions to draw in provider and government support for our vaccine outreach and advocacy, learn about current trends and resources, and bring more resources to immigrant communities.