When COVID-19 vaccines first started rolling out, a common story emerged—that people from disadvantaged communities, particularly communities of color, were not going to get vaccinated. That deeply rooted mistrust and lack of access would be impossible to overcome. And that the neighborhoods that had borne the brunt of the pandemic would be left behind, again. What actually happened is a story of community-led efforts whose determination, resourcefulness, and love won over community members, brought down access barriers, and shrunk the vaccine equity gap–saving countless lives and families. The COVID-19 vaccine efforts demonstrate a vastly under-recognized resource not only in combating the ongoing pandemic but in tackling health equity. If we want to fully address our many public health crises and achieve equity in our nation’s health, we must choose to invest and do the hard work of actually centering community in the work.

Many people recognize—theoretically—the importance of community in these efforts. Actually putting community first requires a serious commitment, deep humility, and flexibility that allows communities to decide what they need and how best to do the work. It requires providing them the support they need to succeed. Below, I share three key lessons from Made to Save, an 18-month COVID-19 vaccine equity initiative of Civic Nation that worked with more than 1600 organizations to have millions of conversations rooted in empathy and equity to build trust and help hardest-hit communities get their shots.

Over the course of this outreach and education campaign, Made to Save grantees contacted 5 million individuals and had more than 625,000 conversations in at least 21 languages in communities of color that were high on the Social Vulnerability Index or otherwise determined to be high-need communities. In those counties, the gap in vaccination rate shrank from 5 percent less than the national average to 2 percent less than the national average. In nearly every month of the grant period, vaccination rates in those counties increased at a steeper rate than in their states overall. Moreover, from a capacity-building standpoint, groups reported that Made to Save’s grants and support were central to their work: 94 percent reported increased capacity, 81 percent reported more collaborations, 75 percent reported increased visibility, and 65 percent felt they had improved connections to the public health infrastructure. Similarly, health care and public health partners shared that they were able to gain a greater understanding of community needs and develop new partnerships for their longer-term work on health equity.

  • Lesson 1: Prioritize Funding for Trusted Community Leaders and Organizations
  • Lesson 2: Provide Trusted Messengers With the Training, Support, and Resources They Need
  • Lesson 3: Build a Broad and Inclusive Community of Practice That Puts Communities At the Center

Read the full article about community health by Alice T. Chen at Stanford Social Innovation Review.