Every year, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) celebrates National Minority Health Month in April. This year’s theme is, “Give your community a Boost!”, which focuses on the continued importance of COVID-19 vaccination amongst racial and ethnic groups, who are disproportionately impacted by high rates of COVID-19, severity of COVID-19, and high death rates from the virus. OMH has created talking points, toolkits, resources, sample social media posts, and graphics. The OMH website has a list of events taking place and allows participating organizations to submit their event as well. Take a moment to visit their website, which also includes resources that have been translated into several languages. 

If you’re looking for ideas and resources specific to community health centers, you’ve come to the right spot. Our team has compiled resources from PRAPARE, NACHC, AAPCHO, and the SDOH Academy. 

The National PRAPARE Team

• Podcast from Affinity Health Center and Habitat for Humanity of York County in South Carolina. Both organizations participated in the 2021 Design Sprints for Cross-sector Partnership and they worked together to develop and implement vaccination programs for racial and ethnic groups in their community. 
• Webinars and infographics specific to assessing and addressing social drivers of health during COVID-19: https://prapare.org/knowledge-center/category/covid-resources/ 
• Publications on addressing SDOH-related needs during COVID-19: https://prapare.org/knowledge-center/category/whitepapers-and-publications/ 

NACHC

• Blog and webinar: How to Counter the “Infodemic” of Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccines 
• Blog and podcast: Fighting Vaccine Mistrust in Mississippi 
• Blog: Planning and Partnership for COVID-19 Vaccination: One Community Health 
• Blog: Nurse Leader Shares Five Lessons on Breaking Down Barriers to Vaccination 
• NACHC’s COVID-19 Resource Page: https://www.nachc.org/coronavirus/ 

AAPCHO

• One stop shop for COVID-19 resources specific to Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities: https://aapcho.org/focusareas/our-covid-19-response/
• COVID-19 Resource Hub includes resources on: 
  • COVID-19 Vaccine
  • Multilingual and Culturally Appropriate Materials
  • Resources for Health Centers
  • Addressing Anti-Asian Racism
  • Cultural Humility 
  • Public Health Considerations

SDOH Academy

• NACHC and AAPCHO are proud faculty members of the SDOH Academy, a HRSA-funded initiative that brings together 18 national training and technical assistance partners to leverage resources on the social drivers of health. Resources from the SDOH Academy explores the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation on the social drivers of health. Visit the SDOH Academy website for additional resources from this consortium of nationally recognized organizations and SDOH leaders.    

We hope you are able to find resources that meet the needs of your community to inform efforts during National Minority Health Month. If you are looking for a specific resource, please reach out to the National PRAPARE Team at prapare@nachc.org. 

Finally, the National PRAPARE Team knows that many health centers and their community partners are doing incredible work to vaccinate their community. We would love to hear about your efforts to vaccinate racial and ethnic groups as well as special populations. Please take a moment to submit your story so we can feature it on the PRAPARE website and beyond!   

By: Yuriko de la Cruz

Questions? Email the PRAPARE Team