Caregiver, Youth, and Community Partner Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on African American families.

• COVID-19 highlighted historical and ongoing racial inequities experienced by African Americans. • Qualitative findings can inform families' needs in another extreme event. • Findings underscore the need to proactively address sociodemographic risk factors. The current study identified qualitative themes describing the impact of COVID-19 on African American families living in urban, low-income areas. A total of 22 caregivers, 15 adolescents, and 37 community partners, including service providers and organizational leaders participated in qualitative interviews. Study findings identified five qualitative themes that included: (a) the worsening of existing inequities, (b) altering the framework for public education delivery, (c) changes in the dynamics of family relationships, (d) challenges in healthcare, emotional impact, and well-being, and (e) positive changes such as learning and coping. Our findings provided a context-specific examination of COVID-19′s impact, identifying some novel qualitative aspects using multiple perspectives that have implications for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]