For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON — The nation’s leading organization educating America’s voters and empowering future leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the East Bay Community Foundation have teamed up to launch the African American Education and Outreach Partnership (AAEOP). The AAEOP will help disseminate accurate information through trusted BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of color) voices and distribute resources to dispel myths and misinformation about COVID-19 in communities of color, specifically African American communities.
The East Bay Community Foundation tapped CBCI to help identify community-based organizations (CBO’s) to receive grants made possible with $5 million in funding from Kaiser Permanente. Twelve CBO’s have received grants to launch COVID-19 testing and education programs in their communities. This partnership focuses on often overlooked areas in states where the coronavirus infection and death rates of people of color are disproportionate to their population makeup — Alabama, California, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C.
“The CBCI is instrumental in advocating for underrepresented populations, specifically African Americans,” says Vanessa Griddine, Executive Director of the CBCI. “This partnership will help us ensure access and equity during these unprecedented times for those who need it most through supporting the great work these organizations have been doing since day one.”
Various COVID-19 vaccines have become widely available to everyone over the age of 16, but the hesitancy to trust the vaccine in communities of color remains. Now is the time to reinforce vaccine communication. According to a U.S. survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 35 percent of Black Americans remain vaccine-hesitant. The AAEOP directly addresses the hesitancy by amplifying accurate vaccine information through trusted community messengers.