Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
The City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (CLB-DHHS) requests $7,663,366 over two years to implement the Long Beach COVID-19 Equity Response project to reduce COVID-19-related health disparities, improve testing and contact tracing, and improve capacity to prevent and control COVID-19 infection among high risk populations. The CLB-DHHS workforce doubled to effectively respond to and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Long Beach is comprised of diverse communities, with 72% of the City identifying as people of color. However, 15.7% of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI), 9.8% of Latinx, 5.0% of Asian, and 4.7% of Black populations were confirmed to have had COVID-19, compared to 3.6% of the White population in Long Beach. The highest COVID-19 rates are located in North, West, and Central Long Beach (Zip Codes 90805, 90806, 90810, and 90813), which comprise predominantly of low-income people of color.The CLB-DHHS will implement all four strategies to achieve the aforementioned goals and focus on the following activities:1. Disseminate $3.8 million to multiple community organizations with expertise providing culturally affirming services to Black, Cambodian, Latinx, and Filipino and NH/PI populations in Long Beach. Culturally specific groups will be connected to health care services, mental health services, food assistance programs, housing support, and other programs that address social determinants of health.2. Upgrade technology infrastructure and data management systems to improve Department-wide efficiency, data analysis and reporting, as well as maintain client confidentiality. This investment will ensure that the City is better equipped to respond to future public health emergencies. CLB-DHHS will also invest in collecting, analyzing, and disaggregating community health needs data to inform strategic planning and health programming.3. Expand the health equity team by investing in three additional Health Equity Coordinators focusing on Cambodian, Latinx and Filipino and NH/PI communities. The City has structural funding to recruit and sustain a Health Equity Manager and Black Health Equity Coordinator. Additionally, a Multicultural Health Council Coordinator will convene grantees to form the Multicultural Health Council to not only respond to the unique community strengths and needs per racial and ethnic population of focus, but also collectively tailor public health responses to COVID-19. Two health educators will support the older adult populations and Long Beach Resource Line to connect vulnerable communities to basic needs. Additionally, the CLB-DHHS will hire 3.5 FTE staff to support with program sustainability, data analysis, and administration.4. Communicate key messages through racial and ethnic-specific media outlets regarding COVID-19 prevention, recovery, and disinformation.The CLB-DHHS will reduce COVID-19 and other comorbidity health disparities by mitigating COVID-19 prevalence rates in highly impacted Zip Code areas (i.e., North, West and Central Long Beach. Through clear communication pathways, continuous community input, and data-driven decision making, the City of Long Beach will improve health equity for populations most impacted by COVID-19.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
