Summary
The COVID-19 crisis is exposing the deep inequities that have existed within communities of color for generations. The history and consequences of denying healthcare, quality schools, access to food, paid leave, fair wages, and other social supports to POC are being magnified as the pandemic devastates their communities.
“The most distressing outcome is that people of color are disproportionately contracting and dying from this disease without the ability to ‘stay home’ and with insufficient access to quality healthcare.”
“The imprint of racism, colonization, and dehumanization is ever present during this crisis and the dire negative outcomes being witnessed in communities of color are no accident.”
“Just as it takes a healthy village to raise healthy BYMOC, it takes all of us to raise healthy villages. By sharing how COVID-19 compounds the historical inequities, barriers, and traumas faced by communities of color, we hope to motivate direct service organizations and philanthropy to join forces for long-lasting solutions.”
Takeaways
- Provide flexible philanthropic funding—freeing organizations to support communities of color with mental health services to alleviate trauma, technology to close the digital divide, food to sustain families, and cash to pay for PPE and bills.
- Advocate for youth who have been convicted of nonviolent offenses to be released from custody to protect them from exposure to COVID-19. Provide mental health support if they remain incarcerated.
- Support the shifting priorities of organizations as they pivot and offer virtual services—helping them to continue funding their staff’s needs and serving BYMOC despite social distancing requirements.
- Address the concerns of immigrant communities that face technology and language barriers, lack access to benefits, worry about exposing their undocumented status, and experience layoffs at higher levels in service industries.