Greetings,
Educator and Urban Appalachian Community Coalition Steward, David Scharfenberger, has dedicated much of his time to helping the Appalachian community. Having backgrounds in community organizing and education, David has helped out with programs like the Christian Appalachian Project and courses like Appalachian Culture & Spirituality at Mount St. Joseph University. Read more about his community involvement in this week's blog post and in our Cultural Resources Directory (links below).
Please also see the Core Column for an update from Core Member Mike Maloney about UACC's Research Committee and Advocacy Teams working to provide better access to health resources for working class communities in Cincinnati. Information about Santa Maria's Price Hill Health Fair in October is also listed below. Help us spread the word by sharing with your personal and professional networks.
Sincerely,
UACC
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An Update on UACC's COVID-19 Research from Core Member Mike Maloney
The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is concerned about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic especially on poor and working class communities in the Greater Cincinnati area. Our Research Committee and Advocacy team has developed a thoughtful approach including dissemination of information, monitoring the spread of the virus in Cincinnati neighborhoods and advocacy for equitable distribution of testing, contact tracing and treatment. We have spread the word about pop up testing sites and advocated for more testing sites. Our research found that over 600 of the identified cases, out of 5,000 city wide, are in the three Price Hill neighborhoods and another 600+ are in neighboring Westwood.
Initially, hardly any testing was going on in these neighborhoods. UACC appealed to a member of City Council and Michael Maloney has been appointed as a volunteer consultant to the Cincinnati Health Department’s chief epidemiologist. He also confers regularly with the Health Commissioner and Price Hill social agencies. More West Side testing sites are being added. Santa Maria Community Services is organizing a Health Fair for Sunday October 11, 1:00 – 4:00 pm at the Recreation Center at 957 Hawthorne Avenue in East Price Hill. UACC is also a co-sponsor. UACC is co-sponsoring Access to Care, another interagency project which will help people find care and will do a survey of the community impact to the pandemic. UACC is also monitoring COVID-19 cases and testing in all Appalachian and minority areas of the city including smaller communities that often get ignored.
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