Community Perspectives on COVID-19 Recovery: A Report on 2021 Community Conversations

As Chicago works to come back from the pandemic, years of disinvestment and structural racism have made economic recovery harder for some communities than others. To have a truly equitable recovery, it's important to understand the on-going impact the pandemic has had on Black and Latinx communities hit hard by job loss, sickness, and death. In collaboration with The Chicago Community Trust and We Rise Together: For an Equitable and Just Recovery, New America Chicago commissioned a report from BECOME to learn more about how these communities were recovering and what is still needed from local and federal policymakers for these communities to not just recover but thrive.We Rise Together is a coalition of corporate and philanthropic funders working with the community to accelerate equitable economic recovery in the Chicago region. Housed at The Chicago Community Trust, We Rise Together is increasing employment opportunities for Black and Latinx workers, strengthening businesses of color, and spurring investment in disinvested neighborhoods. Because We Rise Together is committed to grounding the initiative's efforts in the lived experiences of Chicago's most marginalized communities, the decision was made to host Community Conversations across Chicago neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.  A team from BECOME worked with New America Chicago, The Trust, and We Rise Together to plan seven Community Conversations in collaboration with nonprofits from each neighborhood. Participants had strong recommendations for support and resources to help their neighborhoods recover economically from the pandemic. Consistently, across all neighborhoods, we heard that people struggled and continue to struggle economically and emotionally as a result of the pandemic. Still, most found unexpected positives in the midst of the pandemic

Decreasing Health Disparities through Technology: Building a Community Health Website

The mission of participatory health communication is to collaborate with communities to provide new information about health knowledge, access to care, and the health needs specific to a community. We present the development of the Community Health Website for communities affected by health disparities in the Southwest United States. The internet is used to effectively engage populations that have been traditionally thought of as unreachable through community-based and culturally-centered research approaches. Specifically, we offer suggestions in working to solve public health problems of underserved communities in the Southwest through web-based health education, interactive kiosks, outreach and participation

Manifesting Empowerment: How a Family Health Program Can Address Racism

Racism has been conducive to ostensible health disparities, with African Americans being gravely affected. The lack of cultural responsiveness within the health care system is one reason among others for the persistence of such discrepancies. Family is an integral factor in the culture and history of the African American community, making the inclusion of this variable in health care a potentially ancillary response to culture. The present study endeavored to ascertain the views of African American parents/guardians and health care professionals on how a family health program could address racism and the subsequent ill effects. Applying qualitative methods, various themes on addressing racism emerged, including the following: (1) enhancing self-esteem, increasing cultural pride and knowledge, and enhancing conduct; (2) increasing intraracial community cohesion; and (3) bolstering inter-racial community connection