The Black Equity Coalition

Health Equity/Advocacy/Data-driven/Community-based/Media&Communications

The Black Equity Coalition (BEC) was formed in the spring of 2020 to address the disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Allegheny County’s (Pennsylvania) Black community. The BEC is Black led, and brings-together physicians, researchers, epidemiologists, public health and health care practitioners, social scientists, community funders, and government officials concerned about addressing COVID-19 in vulnerable populations. Members aim to ensure an equitable response to the coronavirus pandemic based on socio-economic and culturally relevant data. Trough the work of 7 working groups (e.g., Data Working Group, Policy Working Group, Community Health Working Group, Community Working Group), the BEC has established a community oriented, primary, and preventive health care infrastructure that is able to respond to and meet the emerging health needs of communities of color. Some highlights of our accomplishments over the past year include the following, with a particular focus on our Data Working Group: 1) One of the first local data dashboards in PA of COVID-19 related data by race/ethnicity and recommendations to state and local official on ensuring adequate collection of race/ethnicity data resulting in only 12% missing race/ethnicity for positive cases in Allegheny County versus more than 35% across the state; 2) Expansion of COVID-19 testing in communities of need through our Hub and Spoke Model, and through our Federally-Qualified-Health-Center (FQHC) leaders/partners based on geospatial data/analysis of populations most likely to be exposed and later data related to existing testing and where there were gaps; 3)Development of a community and FQHC based contact tracing model including data review of key contact tracing data to identify areas of transmission and potential areas for additional testing and support, particularly for immigrant and refugee communities in Allegheny County; 4) Review and use of data to inform eviction moratoriums at the local and state level; 5) Leading vaccine distribution across the region, taking an equitable approach by focusing on communities (e.g., Black/AA) hardest hit by COVID-19; and 6) Culturally responsive education campaigns include media and the nationally known Facebook Live “What Black Pittsburgh Needs to Know” organized by 1Hood Media, Black Women Wise Women LLC and Urban Kind Institute.

https://www.blackequitypgh.org/