CSG East CCC COVID-19 Micro-Summit Project

The second installment in our unique convening of state and local policymakers, experts, and thinkers investigates the massive equity gaps exposed and worsened by the global coronavirus pandemic. One of those issues is the disparity in testing and medical treatment for diverse Black and Brown populations. Racial and income bias have always existed in the medical field: underserved populations experience lack of access to healthcare, they are constantly under-diagnosed, and find their health and medical care determined by race and income. That bias shows up in the lack of coronavirus testing in hardest hit Black communities and greatly affects their odds of survival.

PANELISTS
Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, Maryland, CSG East CCC Vice Chair
Usama Bilal, PhD, MPH, MD, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Urban Health Collaborative
Leon McDougle, MD, MPH, President Elect National Medical Association
Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins, Ph.D., Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Martin Pratt, CSG East Fellow

COVID-19 IMPACT ON BLACK COMMUNITIES: New York (Click image to watch video)

CSG East Fellow and B|E Note Publisher Charles Ellison talks with New York State Senator Kevin Parker (21st-Brooklyn) about the dire situation in New York City: a coronavirus pandemic made even more dangerous by systemic racism and generations of equity gaps.

This session focuses on public health communications during a pandemic. Policymakers, community leaders, advocates, and media professionals are all struggling to communicate directly with fearful audiences through difficult times. Real-time examples of leadership either fail to communicate at all or use the moment to sow division and more anxiety. Leaders must find creative ways to talk with stakeholders and their constituents through limited means, while attempting to ensure the dissemination of accurate and useful information and attempt to inspire confidence. This challenge is even more pronounced for diverse, distressed, and underserved Black and Brown communities that have a very difficult relationship with government institutions and elected officials.

PANELISTS
Senator Vincent Hughes, Pennsylvania
Nicolette A. Louissaint, PhD Executive Director, Healthcare Ready
Tara Dowdell, Communications Strategist and President of the Dowdell Group
Ivan C.A. Walks, MD, former Chief Medical Officer of the District of Columbia and Principal of Ivan Walks & Associates

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Martin Pratt, CSG East Fellow

Click image to listen to audio

“Working In Pandemic: Navigating Communities Through a Labor Crisis” is an expert session on the challenges faced by workers, particularly “frontline” workers during the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has forced us all to redefine “frontline” workers: it’s not just first responders and medical professionals. It’s also sanitation, infrastructure, grocery store, and mass transit employees who are essential to the basic functions of society, even when it presents dangers to their own health. But there are untold millions of workers who are in other sectors who are forced to work, without paid sick leave or who face threats from employers. One of the main reasons COVID-19 infection and death rates are hitting Black and Brown populations the hardest, for example, is because Black and Brown people typically work in essential industries. What does that landscape look like? How bad is the impact of pandemic on workers, especially as unemployment rates soar? And, what can policymakers and community stakeholders do? Also: what will the future of work look like?

PANELISTS

Representative Robyn Porter, Connecticut
Representative Marcus C. Evans, Jr., Illinois
GS Potter, PhD, Founder, Strategic Institute for Intersectional Policy
William E. Spriggs, PhD, AFL – CIO

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Martin Pratt, CSG East Fellow

Going Outside: How Do I Protect Myself?  is an expert, yet practical session on personal best health and safety practices when venturing into public spaces. As cities and states gradually relax – and, in some cases, completely lift – “stay-at-home” mandates, residents find themselves lost in a mix of competing messages, advice and guidelines on how to navigate spaces outside of their homes. This struggle has become even more challenging, and fraught with peril, for underserved and disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities. What is the simplest golden standard for being outside? What is the correct way to wear a mask? Should individuals wear gloves at all times?

PANELISTS

Representative Nnamdi Chukwuocha | Delaware
Nicolette A. Louissaint, PhD | Executive Director, Healthcare Ready
Michellene Davis, Esq. | EVP and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, RWJ Barnabas Health
Rev. Miriam J. Burnett, MD | Medical Director of the AME Church Int’l Health Commission

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Martin Pratt, CSG East Fellow

Voting In Pandemic: The Fight Against Voter Suppression is an expert session on the myriad challenges voters will face attempting to vote in the 2020 elections. With heightened anxieties over voting at traditional polling locations, advocates, policymakers and elections officials are struggling to find a sufficient fix that doesn’t present public health dangers to voters. Worries mount that COVID-19 is becoming a voter suppression tool, either inadvertently or deliberately. In the meantime, policymakers are turning to remote voting options, such as mail-in ballots, as a major solution – yet, not everyone is on the same page about that. What options are available? What can policymakers do without disenfranchising the American electorate, especially Black and Brown voters who routinely face threats to their voting rights? And what should voters themselves know and be prepared to do despite perceived risks?

PANELISTS
Senator Zellnor Myrie | New York
Maxim Thorne, Managing Director | The Andrew Goodman Foundation
Henal Patel, Esq., Director of Democracy & Justice Program | New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Scott Seeborg, Pennsylvania State Director | All Voting is Local
Anoa Changa, Staff Reporter | Prism

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Martin Pratt, CSG East Fellow

Panelists discussed the guidelines, policies, and regulations we should be leaning on as states reopen. The discussion identified ways to make these policies practical as employees return to their workplaces with an emphasis on protecting the public health of our community members. Speakers also touched on what businesses are doing to address these considerations as they work to re-open. Building from lessons learned from the experiences of the essential workers, our panelists unpacked how cities and states should impose physical distancing while re-opening. Some other topics of discussion included the role of state licensing and inspection in enforcing local and recommendations for reopening. Watch to hear expert panelists examine how communities can safeguard public health amid the steady reopening of the economy though policy.

PANELISTS
Senator Kevin Parker | New York
Dara Lieberman | Director of Government Relations for Trust for America’s Health
Dr. Matthew Minson | Senior Advisor for Health Affairs at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Former State, Local, and Federal Health Official)
Brooks Nelson | Senior Director at US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
David Newville | Prosperity Now’s Vice President of Policy and Research

MODERATOR
Charles Ellison, CSG East Fellow, Host of “Reality Check” on WURD radio, Publisher, theBEnote.com