Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Metro Public Health Department of Nashville and Davidson County (MPHD), Tennessee will implement a collaborative, multilevel, culturally informed approach to expand access to COVID-19 testing and vaccine administration and reduce disparities among Nashville?s underserved African American, Hispanic, immigrant and refugee communities. The geographic focus of the priority populations is North and South/Southeast Nashville which are identified as areas of greatest need based on population presence, COVID-19 testing, vaccination and health outcomes data. The action plan addresses the four priority strategies and each intersects at the community, neighborhood, organizational, and individual levels. A community-wide health literacy informed communications approach will be tailored to our priority populations to aid in understanding COVID-19 and remove barriers to accessing testing and vaccination by Community Health Worker navigation support; tailored organizational efforts to reach across diverse venues and people of all ages including faith communities and other settings; and programmatic strategies that engage youth and young adults to educate and mobilize peers and families. Improvements will be made to data collection and reporting to assure more immediate access to vital information to address systemic barriers for our priority populations as well as improving future response efforts. This includes a feasibility review and actions to improve data collection and reporting, expanded data collection and analysis of social determinants of health, and listening sessions with priority communities and qualitative surveillance and analysis of barriers to accessing services. To achieve mitigation goals, access to COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and case investigation, and vaccinations among the populations of focus will be expanded. We will build community capacity to address identified barriers in programs, policies and systems by establishing a cou nty-wide multi-sector COVID-19 Health Equity coalition and priority population community advisory groups to address immediate needs and future responses. Building and expanding a public health workforce that is representative of the priority populations will be a key activity of this project. A community health worker navigation program will be established, reflective of and embedded in the communities to provide assessments, referrals to wrap-around services for COVID-19 and respond to concerns and effects. Project staff will be trained in Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards. A continuous quality improvement approach will be applied to all activities to facilitate effectiveness of efforts. Collectively the activities of this initiative will seek to reduce inequities in access to services, reduce disparities related to COVID-19 and build sustainable partnerships, community capacity and trust in the immediate and future response efforts.
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).
