Health Services COVID-19 Community Equity Collaborative: Community Equity Fund & Community Awareness and Engagement Campaign

Health Services COVID-19 Community Equity Collaborative: Community Equity Fund & Community Awareness and Engagement Campaign

By: Erika Flores Uribe M.D., M.P.H., Ángel J Martínez M.S., Diana Zúñiga, Jeannette Johnson M.P.H., Clemens Hong M.D.
Covid Equity Collaborative

Health Services COVID-19 Community Equity Collaborative: Community Equity Fund & Community Awareness and Engagement Campaign

Health Services COVID-19 Community Equity Collaborative: Community Equity Fund & Community Awareness and Engagement Campaign 800 450 Health Services Los Angeles County

In September 2020, Health Services and DPH established the Los Angeles County COVID-19 Community Equity Fund (CCCEF) to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in communities disproportionately impacted by the virus. This initiative formed partnerships with selected grassroots community-based organizations (CBOs) for a community driven outreach, engagement and system navigation efforts around COVID-19 resources such as testing, vaccine, access to medical care and social resources through Community Partners as fiscal intermediary.  CBO partners are funded to reach individuals who live in COVID-19 hard-hit neighborhoods and to connect members of these communities with health and social services. This initiative focuses on culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate campaigns, outreach, engagement and linkages to care efforts that are community driven by investing in CBOs through flexible funding and capacity sustaining. Health Services funded 25 CBOs through the CCCEF, 4 CBOs through philanthropy as well as an additional almost 200 community organizations through mini-grants for focused campaign efforts. Additionally, Health Services partnered with Faith Based Organizations to expand access to testing with African American Community Empowerment Council (AACEC) and LA VOICE (Latinx and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations). Selected CBO and Faith Based Organization partners receive mentorship, training, and technical assistance to support their internal infrastructure, workforce, and organizational sustainability as they provide prevention services and linkages to social and medical resources to their communities.

In December of 2020, Health Services launched the COVID-19 Community Awareness and Engagement Campaign to ensure culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate content and resources. The efforts established community feedback loops and capacity building, that directly informed development and deployment of communication tools including: outreach toolkit, website, paid and earned ethnic media, and regional collaboration efforts. To date, the campaign has launched the following efforts: “Keeping Safe During the Holidays” (December 2020-January 2021); “Together Fighting COVID” (February 2021-present); Health Services Patient and Workforce COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign (February 2021-present). This partnership mobilized over 220 community partners to conduct outreach, engagement and provide linkages to care. Resources were provided in over 13 languages across every Supervisorial District in LA County reaching approximately 170,000 individuals in the hardest to reach communities. In addition, over 300,000 Health Services patients are reached through focused outreach efforts (SMS text message, robocalls, emails etc.).  And through over 200 medical homes, representing 52 community clinic agencies across LA County, information and resources are shared with My Health LA participants, about 130,000 uninsured individuals. Finally, resources including trainings and outreach tools were widely shared through a weekly newsletter with partners across LA county including, LA CARE, Advancement Project, Office of Immigrant Affairs, Board of Supervisors, County CEO, AltaMed, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, Christ Centered Ministries, and more.

Contact Information: Ángel J Martínez ajmartinez@dhs.lacounty.gov

Covid Equity Collaborative
Covid Equity Collaborative
Covid Equity Collaborative
Covid Equity Collaborative