Awareness of COVID-19 information and the ability to understand and act on it has created many barriers for minorities and other vulnerable populations in South Florida. These barriers have resulted in glaring disparities in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, testing and vaccinations. Broward County Human Services Department?s (HSD)Community Partnership Division (CPD) has identified specific areas of disparity in South Florida, and has formed the Broward County Health Literacy, Equity, and Inclusion Coalition. This coalition, made up of the Broward County HSD, Broward College, major health care and medical systems, nonprofit organizations and other community partners, embodies a group of stakeholders who are already working together to fight inequity, disparity and systemic injustice in South Florida. The nonprofits involved are subject-matter experts and trusted community voices that deliver services to more than 100,000 individuals each year and have decades of experience serving their respective minority target populations: African-American; Hispanic; Caribbean; immigrants; those with limited English proficiency (LEP); elderly; homeless and transient; HIV/AIDS; and Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Nonprofit organizations will deploy health Navigators and Community Health Workers (CHW) to reach those who have been unreachable through general COVID health literacy efforts. The health systems are nationally recognized and accredited organizations who cover Broward County and provide safety net services as well as medical care: Broward Health System and Memorial Health System. These healthcare systems will employ Medical Navigators to act as a liaison between the organizations and the public, performing community outreach and advancing health literacy. Broward HCD CPD will employ Health Coordinators who will ensure that quality health literacy information is disseminated to all stakeholders and that messages are unified county-wide. Broward College, a
Minority Serving Institution (MSI), will employ its Center for Applied Research (CFAR) to perform data collection, research, monitoring and evaluation throughout the project.
