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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
February 26th, 2021
Sheena Kadi
Metro Caring
Director of Strategy and Communications
skadi@metrocaring.org
419-340-2577

Metro Caring Partners with CDPHE and Dr. Rep. Caraveo on Champions for Vaccine Equity Event 

WHO: Dr. Shelia Davis, Health Chair for the Colorado NAACP State Conference Dr. Representative Yadira Caraveo

WHEN: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 5:00 PM MT – 6:00 PM MT

WHERE: Zoom

HOW TO REGISTER:  At www.metrocaring.org, bit.ly/MCVaccine, or the QR code below.

WHAT: The Champions for Vaccine Equity Initiative is a new approach developed and  administered by the Immunization Branch at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The purpose of the initiative is to foster relationships and dialogue with communities who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 about vaccine importance, effectiveness, and safety.

With more than 40% of Metro Caring’s community members speaking a language other than English at home, this event will have interpretation services available in Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese.

“Systemic, persistent racism is a public health issue. When the color of your skin correlates with your well-being  and longevity, that is a public health injustice that must be addressed. Metro Caring is excited to continue to  partner with CDPHE and ensure that we’re closing the race and class gap around COVID vaccination access.” 
Erik Hicks, Chief Development Officer, Metro Caring 

“We’ve been getting a lot of questions around vaccine safety and accessibility, as well as having a  number of  vaccine hesitation conversations. This is not surprising given the long history of racism and mistreatment in  health care. We’re committed to serving as a trusted messenger to our 65,000 members across the state that identify as people of color.” 

-Sheena Kadi, Director of Strategy and Communication, Metro Caring 

“The clear connections between race, wealth, and health are unavoidable and unacceptable. When Metro Caring conducted root cause analysis with our community about the drivers of hunger in their families and  communities, health ranked in the top three. Disparities in access, care, and cost directly contribute to hunger in our state, which is why it’s critical that we partner with CDPHE and others to close the gaps. COVID-19 is exacerbating the health disparities in our system caused by centuries of racism – Black, Brown, and Indigenous  communities are continually denied the resources needed to be safe and healthy and lack equal access to health  insurance and care.” 

-Brizai Gomez Cortes, Bilingual Community Activator, Metro Caring 

COVID and Metro Caring
Metro Caring has gone from serving an average of 2,364 families a month pre-COVID to serving an average of 7,128 families a month during COVID. We’ve added temporary employees and ballooned our food purchasing to deliver triple the amount of food to nearly triple the amount of families with half of the number of volunteers available.

The racial and ethnic makeup of our community members at Metro Caring is approximately:
38% Hispanic/Latinx
29% Black or African American*
20% White
6% Asian
5% multi-racial
<2% each Native Hawaiian and American Indian/Alaska Native

*Since the start of COVID-19, these numbers have shifted to show 37% Black or African American. This shift demonstrates alignment with the job loss gap and racial wealth gap, continuing to expose the systemic issues the African American community consistently endures.

About Metro Caring 
Metro Caring works with our community to meet people’s immediate need for nutritious food, while building a movement to address the root causes of hunger. Metro Caring offers innovative programming in healthy foods access, nutrition education, cooking clubs, identity document procurement, urban agriculture, and community activation. To learn more, visit www.metrocaring.org.

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