1. The Role of Anti-Racist Community-Partnered Praxis in Implementing Restorative Circles Within Marginalized Communities in Southern California During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Author
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Adkins-Jackson, Paris B, Vázquez, Evelyn, Henry-Ala, Frank K, Ison, Juliana M, Cheney, Ann, Akingbulu, Josephine, Starks, Christian, Slay, Lindsay, Dorsey, Alexander, Marmolejo, Connie, Stafford, Alvin, Wen, James, McCauley, Margaret H, Summers, Latrese, Bermudez, Llendy, Cruz-Roman, Zitlaly L, Castillo, Itzel, Kipke, Michele D, Brown, Arleen F, and Workgroup, The STOP COVID-19 CA Vaccine Hesitancy
- Subjects
Health Services and Systems ,Health Sciences ,Clinical Research ,Prevention ,Infection ,Good Health and Well Being ,Humans ,Pandemics ,COVID-19 ,California ,Trust ,Mental Health ,Community-Based Participatory Research ,community-based ,mental health ,restorative ,antiracism ,CBPR ,partnerships ,community-academic partnerships ,intervention planning ,STOP COVID-19 CA Vaccine Hesitancy Workgroup ,community–academic partnerships ,Public Health and Health Services ,Curriculum and Pedagogy ,Public health - Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the adverse influence of structural racism and discrimination experienced by historically marginalized communities (e.g., Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and transgender people). Structural racism contributes to trauma-induced health behaviors, increasing exposure to COVID-19 and restricting access to testing and vaccination. This intersection of multiple disadvantages has a negative impact on the mental health of these communities, and interventions addressing collective healing are needed in general and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Share, Trust, Organize, and Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), a statewide collaborative of 11 universities and 75 community partners, includes several workgroups to address gaps in COVID-19 information, vaccine trial participation, and access. One of these workgroups, the Vaccine Hesitancy Workgroup, adopted an anti-racist community-partnered praxis to implement restorative circles in historically marginalized communities to facilitate collective healing due to structural racism and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project resulted in the development of a multilevel pre-intervention restorative process to build or strengthen community-institutional partnerships when procurement of funds has been sought prior to community partnership. This article discusses this workgroup's role in advancing health justice by providing a community-based mental health intervention to marginalized communities in Southern California while using an antiracist praxis tool to develop a successful community-institutional partnership and to live up to the vision of community-based participatory research.
- Published
- 2023