Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Pulse Newsletter July 16, 2021

Kent County Administrator’s Office

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Pulse Newsletter

July 16, 2021

Thanks to the Kent County COVID-19 Race, Equity and Inclusion Team Partners!

On behalf of Kent County and the Kent County Health Department, we’d like to express our thanks to the following organizations for their dedication, support and contributions in working with the Kent County COVID-19 Race, Equity & Inclusion (REI) Team. The REI Team was established as part of KCHD COVID-19 Incident Command Structure to address COVID-19 racial disparities and expanded to be more inclusive of other population groups to meet diverse community needs.

The REI Team charge was to:

Engage racial/ethnic populations and cultural groups to ensure timely COVID-19 information and resource dissemination.
Focus on health equity for populations that are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Ensure inclusive outreach and messaging.
Meet weekly as a planning team to identify tactics and report on progress.
Hold weekly meetings with community leaders for updates, questions, concerns, and ideas.
Connect racial/ethnic populations and cultural groups with community resources, support, testing and vaccination.
Ensure timely culturally and linguistically appropriate information, material development and dissemination.
Monitor relevant data, provide team updates and utilize data to inform tactics/strategies.
Identify best practice and strategies to address disparities.
Build partnerships and strengthen community capacity to support COVID-19 response efforts.

Thanks for your ongoing support. We look forward to additional partnerships to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Kent County.

Area Agency on Aging of West Michigan, Association of Blind and Visually Impaired, Cherry Health, Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services, Disability Advocates of Kent County, Eastern Floral, United Way Essential Needs Task Force, Black Impact Collaborative, Grand Rapids African American Health Institute, Grand Rapids Hip Hop Coalition, Grand Rapids National Panhellenic Council, Healthy Kent, Hispanic Center of West Michigan, Kent County Community Connectors, Kent County Faith Leaders and Neighborhood Partnerships Team, LatinxGR, Michigan Department of Civil Rights, Metro Health, NAACP Grand Rapids, Native News Online, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Senior Neighbors, Spectrum Health/Strong Beginnings, The Hekima Group, Urban Church Center, Urban Core Collective, West Michigan Asian American Association, West Michigan Friendship Center.

Please join Michigan Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Equity at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 21, for a virtual webinar, Addressing Health Disparities in Diverse Communities: A Presentation of the Findings of a Systematic Literature Review, hosted by the Office of Equity and Minority Health. You can register for this limited capacity webinar through this Eventbrite link.

This webinar is intended to further disseminate strategies to improve health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities. This webinar will share material included in the literature review and promote effective interventions. We hope you will review the findings included in this report and consider them when you are developing programs, issuing request for proposals, and determining the types of endeavors to fund. We are committed to sharing research findings and evaluation results as it pertains to improving health and social outcomes for racial and ethnic populations and encourage dissemination of this information widely.

Live captions are available as an option within the app during the Teams event. This event will also be recorded and will be available on the Office of Equity and Minority Health website to view.

Silent Celebration

Congratulations to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services on 25 years of dedicated service to our community. Please join the 2021 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Silent Celebration on July 24^th. The July event is open to the public and will include lunch, activities, information booths, and a silent auction. Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing individuals, friends, and family members from across Michigan will be attending this event, making it a great opportunity for all of us to advance our relationships with these communities. As we focus on Inclusive Participation across Kent County, we can do our part by helping Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services reach their goal of empowering those in the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing communities, and creating an inclusive community where all members can participate.

July 26 is Disability Independence Day

Disability Advocates of Kent County will be holding a virtual celebration on July 28 from 5:30-7 p.m. on their Facebook and YouTube pages celebrating the anniversary of the 1990 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

International Day of Friendship July 30

International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the U.N. General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities. Kent County's very own Kentwood Public Schools holds the title for most diverse school district in Michigan and the 7th most diverse in the nation. In 2019, the graduating class featured students from 60 different countries as seen in this video. We are proud to celebrate the rich cultural diversity our community holds.