Center for Health Equity Newsletter
February 2021
In this newsletter:
Greetings from the Center for Health Equity
Message from the Director
CONNECT: New cohort of Community Solutions grantees virtually connect
STRENGTHEN: Partnering with People with Disabilities during COVID-19
AMPLIFY: Guest story by Community Solutions grantee Katy Armendariz
Greetings from the Center for Health Equity
2021 has been a whirlwind. The year began with the storming of the U.S. Capitol, which left many of us outraged and saddened. Yet these tragic events and what has unfolded since reminds us of the contradictory ways many of us are treated in this country. This past year has only brought these injustices more into focus.
After much anticipation, Inauguration Day was finally upon us. It was a powerful and emotional moment for many of us to see our first Black, Indian and female vice president be sworn into office. Representation matters. Our children, our daughters can begin to see themselves represented in the highest levels of office and can begin to believe that they too can be vice president, that they too can be president.
With this February newsletter, we would like to wish everyone a Happy Black History Month! We encourage folks to celebrate black joy, support black businesses, and to educate themselves on black history—not only in February, but throughout the year.
We also would like to take a moment to acknowledge the attacks against our Asian American and Pacific Islander community over the past couple weeks in California and New York. We firmly stand against this racially-motivated violence, and we are sending peace and comfort to our Asian American and Pacific Islander friends and neighbors across the country, particularly as many Asian American communities celebrated Lunar New Year earlier this month
Here at the Center for Health Equity, we are as busy as ever. Our work has been heavily focused on COVID-19 community engagement and the vaccine rollout process, while also maintaining our grant programs and advisory councils. In this newsletter, we are highlighting stories from our COVID-19 work with people with disabilities and our Community Solutions grant program, in additional to messages from our director, Kou Thao, and grantee Katy Armendariz.
Interested in being a guest writer for a future newsletter?
Email your idea to health.equity@state.mn.us and we will be in touch!
Message from the Director
In January I joined the vaccine planning team, co-leading the state’s vaccine equity and engagement efforts. Many of us see COVID vaccines as a way to return to a sense of “normalcy”—vaccines are the way out. Many of us have lost loved ones to COVID-19, and want desperately to protect those we still have by getting them or ourselves vaccinated. Some of us are fearful or skeptical about the vaccine because of the histories of medical experimentation within our communities, or concerns about how quickly the vaccines were produced. All of us seek an end to this pandemic. We want to be able to hug our elders, see the newborn babies we haven’t been able to visit, blow candles out on birthday cakes. We want to fully reopen our businesses and schools and places of worship.
As I write this message, I think about a similar message I shared last year when we were deep into rolling out community testing: We cannot do this without you. Getting vaccines to all Minnesotans who want and need them cannot be done without all of us working together. The state is an integral part of the vaccine roll out, but we cannot do it without our community partners, local public health, health systems, pharmacies, trusted messengers, and many more.
If you hear misinformation about the vaccine, or don’t have enough information, seek it out from trusted sources like the MDH COVID-19 Vaccine webpage or the CDC’s Finding Credible Vaccine Information [EXPIRED LINK] page. If you want to speak with someone in your first language, call a COVID Community Coordinator – local organizations that are equipped to help community members navigate COVID-19 information and needs that are specific to their communities, including in their languages. If you want MDH to come and speak with your networks or organizations, please complete this vaccine speaker request form. If you hear family members or friends raising concerns or questions about vaccines, engage them in a conversation to understand their frustrations and help address them if you can.
There is still a long road ahead of us. There are many issues and challenges with vaccines that we are working tirelessly to address. I am deeply grateful to my public health colleagues, our frontline essential workers, our community partners, healthcare providers, and the many others who are working day and night to help our communities get through this. There is a light at the end of this tunnel, thought it may seem dark right now. The only way we will get through this is together.
Kou Thao
Director, Center for Health Equity
CONNECT
We are a network hub – leading, connecting and strengthening networks of health equity leaders and partners across MDH and Minnesota communities.
New cohort of Community Solutions grantees virtually connect
In mid-January, Community Solutions grantees came together virtually to connect around project focus areas. This was the first gathering since the grantee kick-off and was planned in response to feedback from grantees about wanting to connect more with each other. During the January gathering, participants were divided into small groups based on focus area. There was a group for each of the following focus areas: Autism, Doulas, Early Childhood Development, Friends Family Neighbors (FFN), Home Visiting, and Language Immersion.
In these breakout rooms, grantees had an opportunity to discuss their grant project, share successes and challenges during the pandemic, and discuss opportunities to collaborate with one other. Grantees voiced the challenges of engaging community and having their services move to virtual platforms. Other challenges that arose included technology issues, staffing and adapting their grant activities to be as safe as possible.
Yet despite the hardships and vast challenges that the past year has brought, grantees made immense progress in their grant activities. Examples include creating curriculum for the families they serve to be taught through zoom, having zoom forums focused on early childhood concerns during the pandemic, having a virtual cooking class with all the food delivered to families’ houses prior to the class, and creating and delivering early learning kits and books to families’ houses.
Through this gathering, several opportunities to collaborate were noted. Grantees wanted to connect with other grantees who were experts in specific early childhood topics. In addition, grantees wanted to share best practices and lessons learned with each other regarding community assessment tools, cross-cultural learning, and several other topics.
The Community Solutions grant program began just a couple of months after the pandemic started. Therefore, grantees have not had the chance to meet each other in person. While online platforms have given us an opportunity connect virtually, it has not been the same as creating face-to-face connections. In order to facilitate a larger sense of community and have a place where grantees can share resources and updates, we recently launched an online platform exclusively for grantees of this Community Solutions cohort using Slack.
Our new Slack platform, Community Solutions Change Makers, has a different page for the six project areas that grantees are focused on that we mentioned above. Additionally, this platform will allow Community Solutions grantees space to connect and collaborate with members of our Community Solutions Advisory Council and our Preschool Development Grant partners. We are excited to see grantees already using Slack since the January gathering; in lieu of in-person gatherings, it is a great way to connect more directly with one another!
The Community Solutions grant program is now halfway through its first year, and what a year it has been. Despite these unprecedented times, grantees have persevered and remain committed and passionate about the health and well-being of our American Indian families and children and our families and children of color.
STRENGTHEN
We provide leadership in advancing health equity and cultivate health equity leaders within MDH and across Minnesota communities.
Understanding impact through stories: Partnering with people with disabilities during COVID-19
Through established, trusted networks, people with disabilities have navigated this challenging time. Yet people with disabilities continue to confront many inequities in access to COVID-related services and basic needs, and more work must be done at all levels to ensure equity and access. The needs of Minnesotans with disabilities during the pandemic are nuanced and complex, so the solutions must be as well.
At MDH, a team was brought together early in the pandemic to serve as internal advocates and connectors for Minnesotans with disabilities during COVID-19. Ann Schulte, Lisa Gemlo, and Mai Thor lead the People with Disabilities Team within the Cultural, Faith, and Disability Communities Branch at MDH. Since March, they have collaborated across the branch and MDH overall on creating guidance, building a resources page on the MDH website (Disabilities and Unique Health Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic), convening a community advisory board, and onboarding community contractors. In partnership with the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, the team holds monthly Let’s Talk Virtual Forums that are open to the public (COVID-19 Community Engagement Webinars [EXPIRED LINK]), providing an opportunity for community members to directly engage with MDH about the needs of people with disabilities during the pandemic. This two-way communication platform is essential to making sure the public has the most up-to-date information and to keep MDH alert to the priorities and concerns of community members.
One of the team’s main objectives has been to build accessibility into all aspects of the MDH COVID-19 response rather than serving as the only advocates within the agency. “The goal isn’t for us to be the experts,” explained Lisa Gemlo. Her goal is for MDH to increasingly weave accessibility into all programs to better serve Minnesotans with disabilities.
Disability COVID-19 community coordinators
Connections with a variety of partners have been essential in this work. Local organizations and community advocates became collaborators in identifying the issues in the community and proposing solutions to address the onslaught of pandemic-related needs people were facing. Collaboration with community partners accelerated in fall 2020 when MDH joined with the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to support several COVID-19 Community Coordinators (CCCs) serving disability communities. The CCCs connect Minnesotans with disabilities to COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and resources. These community-based organizations are uniquely positioned to address people’s needs in real time because of their longstanding trust and experience with the communities they serve.
Stories from the community
Kim Edelman, a former member of the MDH People with Disabilities Team, noted that because there is very little data collected on the impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities, “The most important part is sharing the stories of people with disabilities.” Some CCC partner organizations share their stories here.
Empowering individuals' choices
The Southeastern Minnesota Center for Independent Living (SEMCIL) has worked to address community members’ urgent needs. They recently connected with a Minnesotan with a disability experiencing housing insecurity who was staying in a friend’s boat on the Mississippi River. She didn’t have the resources to keep the boat warm but did not want to move to a warming center because of fear of exposure to COVID-19. The SEMCIL team encouraged her to share what she needed to ensure her safety in her current living situation. “[As] she was almost out of wood, SEMCIL purchased a cord of wood that she feels will get her through the winter, [along with] two wool blankets, wool socks, hand and foot warmers, a windproof facemask with ear flaps, hat and neck warmer, heated rechargeable gloves, and a vest.” SEMCIL was able to rapidly meet the needs of the community member without prescribing what was best for her. Although this intervention provided much needed relief to an individual, the systemic issue of housing insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic remains.
Crucial connections
Independent Lifestyles, a COVID-19 Community Coordinator organization serving the St. Cloud area and beyond, has expanded their efforts to serve their community during this time. “Here at Independent Lifestyles, we have become extremely aware of how this pandemic has disrupted the lives of people with disabilities,” said coordinator Rachel Ruff. “One of the most impactful experiences from this contract has been the community connection and outreach we have been able to offer. To see the faces of our consumers once receiving our PPE packages was not only heart-warming, but moving. The small act of kindness by simply speaking to our consumers over the phone and asking what their needs currently are has been also extremely impactful and essential.” Making personal protective equipment available to people all over the state continues to be a challenge, especially for people who already experience isolation.
Making technology accessible
Lighthouse for Vital Living has been providing a “Tech to Connect” program to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the technology they need during the pandemic for school, telehealth, and connecting with support systems. Recently they worked to provide wifi to a parent so that she could have a video call with her child. This service has also allowed people to schedule grocery deliveries and COVID-19 testing appointments. The needs during the pandemic unfortunately outpace the organization’s ability to provide access to wifi, particularly in Greater Minnesota where reliable internet is more scarce.
Looking ahead
Moving into 2021, the People with Disabilities Team and their contractors remain busy. With COVID-19 vaccines becoming available, they are working to ensure that vaccines are accessible to people with disabilities. On a recent Let’s Talk forum, the MDH team and community participants exchanged ideas and information about vaccine allocation and planning. Ann Schulte hopes that MDH can apply the many lessons learned and insights from testing to vaccination.
Now that CCC lead coordinator Mai Thor has joined the People with Disabilities Team to manage the COVID-19 Community Coordinator contracts, the team hopes to have increased capacity to respond to community needs and be proactive in ensuring accessibility. This investment indicates that a focus on equity for people with disabilities will continue and grow from here. “The good news is that people have been very receptive in general when we bring issues forward,” said Lisa Gemlo. Ann Schulte agreed, explaining that a focus on co-creating people-centered solutions has been essential. The People with Disabilities Team continues to emphasize the value of partnering with the community to help design solutions and break down barriers to accessibility.
To learn more, visit Disabilities and Unique Health Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
If you are seeking service, please visit Disability Hub MN.
AMPLIFY
We amplify the work of communities most impacted by health inequities and support them to drive their own solutions.
This guest article comes from Minnesota CarePartner – a grantee of the Community Solutions for Healthy Child Development grant program. They provide support and services to at-risk families of color experiencing pregnancy and/or with young children to improve the chances of healthy child development over the long-term. Their focus is on diverting families away from the child welfare system by providing culturally responsive, trauma-informed services within the community by people from the community. Learn more about Minnesota CarePartner and other grantees on the Community Solutions Grantee Profiles page [LINK EXPIRED].
Breaking through barriers
By Katy Armendariz
I had no idea that a last minute decision would allow me to better fulfill a lifelong desire to advocate for racial justice and social change. But that’s exactly what happened when I decided to abandon a scholarship for a PhD sociology program just two weeks shy of the first semester. Instead, I enrolled in a Master of Social Work (MSW) program. This last-minute choice stemmed from a personal place, and transformed into a lifelong professional commitment.
As an international adoptee who was abandoned at the hospital immediately after birth, spent time in an orphanage, then foster care, and later was adopted to an all-White family, I learned personally what the child welfare system was doing wrong, both internationally and domestically. I could see that the child welfare system at home echoed the themes of international adoption, and how social injustice and racism led to Black and Brown families being dismantled at astonishingly disproportionate rates, perpetuating centuries of historical trauma and oppression. Homelessness, mental health conditions and lack of support prevented my own birthmother from being able to parent. I knew that marginalized communities were being destroyed by a system that views Black and Brown families as in need of saving by forcing them into oppressive systems that uphold White Supremacy as the status quo.
In 2014, I started Minnesota CarePartner (MNCP)—a mental health and chemical health agency that provides culturally responsive and trauma informed supports to children and families. I saw a need for in-home services by BIPOC providers who not only represent but also belong the community. Because substance use is the primary reason for out-of-home placement, which is a social injustice in and of itself, Roots Recovery was developed to support parents with substance use conditions from a harm-reduction, social justice-oriented lens. The majority of Roots Recovery counselors are BIPOC and all staff acknowledge and incorporate the ways in which systemic oppression has contributed to mental health and substance use. Our Parent Community Support Program also offers free parent mentoring, nutrition, trauma-informed yoga, and BIPOC doulas and lactation consultants—all as part of an effort to provide holistic and de-colonized supports to children and families. Parent community support program services do not require any insurance, nor a pathologizing, Westernized Diagnostic Assessment. They also provide continuing education opportunities related to impacting oppressive systems, historical trauma, activism and counteracting White cultural dominance.
Due to the attachment and race-based trauma of my experience, Minnesota CarePartner is forever dedicated to advocating for services to be delivered through historical and systemic trauma lenses. I am in recovery myself and have committed my life to community-based healing and recovery on a broader level through policy efforts to dismantle the very systems that create the need for services like MNCP’s.
Katy is the CEO and founder of Minnesota CarePartner (MNCP). She previously served as a Civil Rights Commissioner for Ward 12 in Minneapolis, served on the board of directors for the Minnesota Trauma Project, and was for a short time the Cultural Outreach Chair of the Ramsey County Children's Mental Health Collaborative. She received the Outstanding Service Award from the MN Association for Children's Mental Health in 2016. These efforts complement her mission to advocate alongside disenfranchised communities to dismantle racist systems.