Identity highlighted by WAMU for helping get vaccines to hard-to-reach neighbors

Identity highlighted by WAMU for helping get vaccines to hard-to-reach neighbors

A May 12 WAMU report in DCist about outreach efforts to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations highlights Identity’s work:

In Montgomery County, door to door outreach by trusted case workers from Identity….helped to increase testing rates among Latinx residents earlier in the pandemic. Identity modeled that strategy on its U.S. Census outreach efforts last year, and some leaders want to try to replicate it again to get more Latinx youth to take the vaccine.“We had youth ambassadors helping us get into their own neighborhoods and refer people to case management and then to vaccinations and testing, etc.,” says Diego Uriburu, the Identity executive director. “So now we’re trying to deploy these young people to begin to do outreach about vaccinations.”The ambassadors, Uriburu says, can help people get past barriers to getting the shot. They might help set up Uber rides to vaccination sites, for example, or document the reasons why some people remain hesitant. This hones Identity’s specific understanding of the sources of hesitancy. Uriburu envisions setting up focus groups with hesitant youth to help workshop solutions. Then they’ll go back and do it all over, time after time.

Read the full story:

‘We’ll Do It Again And Again’: Community Leaders Say Personal Outreach Is Key To Herd Immunity