UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza) has announced a new communication and outreach initiative. According to the Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, the Esperanza Hope for All campaign expands on the Esperanza/Hope Fund established in April 2020 to support the UnidosUS Affiliate Network and community partners’ response and resiliency during the pandemic.
“Latinos have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and many are still grappling with the long-term health and economic effects of this virus,” said UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía. “The COVID-19 vaccines will give our community and the nation our best chance at getting back to our lives. That is why it is critically important that we foster trust in the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and combat vaccine misinformation and disinformation.”
To do that, the organization plans to leverage its national network of nearly 300 community-based organizations to disseminate culturally and linguistically appropriate information on the COVID-19 vaccines.
“We are reaching Hispanic individuals and families where they are, be it on social and digital media channels, in radio and TV, or directly in communities. This includes equipping our Affiliate Network with the resources to help them do what they do best on the ground, while we build out a national strategy and reinforce the message, data, and other key elements through broad-reaching mass communications efforts,” noted Rita Carreón, UnidosUS vice president of health.
Additional efforts include virtual town halls, a social media video series in Spanish and English, and a bilingual informational PSA featuring Dr. Robert Rodriguez, University of California-San Francisco Emergency Medicine Physician.
Esperanza Hope for All’s vaccine equity efforts is backed by funding from a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and UnidosUS, and between the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health and Morehouse School of Medicine’s National COVID-19 Resiliency Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, Walmart Foundation, The Pfizer Foundation* and Amazon. Plus, generous in-kind support from Charter Communications, Comcast NBCUniversal and Telemundo, Google, and Toyota.
UnidosUS is a partner on the COVID Collaborative and Ad Council’s and COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, helping to develop and distribute culturally resonant content for the Latino community.
Latinos are overrepresented in “essential” occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to coronavirus infection (hospitality, retail, food services, construction, and agriculture). Latinos are 18% of the U.S. overall population but represent 21% of COVID-19 cases and 12% of COVID-19 deaths in the United States as of March 22, 2021, and are 4.1 times more likely to be hospitalized than any other group.
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