At the beginning of March, we began a systemic shutdown to lessen the impact of the virus known as COVID-19. The staff at We All Rise came together to have some very serious discussions believing that black folks (our focus population) would be disproportionately affected by the virus due to reasons such as: inadequate housing (more likely to be living with multiple generations, or apartment living), lack of private transportation (more likely to use public transportation, and less likely to receive equitable car loans), inequities in health care (racism, historical erasure, discrimination, poverty, etc...), and underlying health conditions (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease). The reality for our agency was that our clients had already told us that the reason why they had not sought the crisis and emergency services they needed to holistically heal previously was for reasons such as: racism, discrimination, conflicting cultural beliefs, and representation. As a staff, we recognized that we had a duty even more so by being a new safe haven for our clients to trust in the CDC's recommendations but also to self-determine that we are an essential agency.
Please find the graphic below that outlines some of the measured outcomes during this time in our work.
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