Leading black organizations sent letters requesting for the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to create an African American Fatality Taskforce. Participating organizations include:

• Riverside NAACP

• Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE)

• Riverside County Black Chamber of Commerce

• 100 Black Men of the Inland Empire

• Coalition for Black Health and Wellness

• The Black Collective

• The Black Student Advocate

The letters state “we are calling the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to establish a county African American Fatality Taskforce to propose recommendations to you on addressing the mortality rate and addressing the historic underlined conditions that are contributing to it. The county is in the position to finally bring justice to this community. We ask that you please act now.”

The African American community has historically been marginalized and oppressed since the founding of this nation and county. Due to these historical atrocities, the African American community has biological, social, and emotional adverse outcomes that is being passed from one generation to another. Covid-19 has only magnified the systemic inequalities that persist in the United States and Riverside County. And nonwhite Americans, especially African Americans, have been hit hard on nearly every front.

African Americans are dying at disproportionately higher rates compared to all other ethnicities. As of last week, 16,329 black Americans are known to have died due to Covid-19, according to an analysis from the American Public Media (APM) Research Lab. That’s out of approximately 61,000 deaths for which race and ethnicity data was available. About 75,000 people total had lost their lives to the coronavirus at the time of the analysis, a number that has risen to more than 77,000. African Americans make up about 13% of the US population, according to the Census Bureau, but 27% of known Covid-19 deaths.

In Riverside County we are seeing the same disproportionate fatality rates as we are seeing throughout the nation.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: Save Black Lives

The post African American Organizations Call for Riverside County Supervisors to Form Taskforce to Save Black Lives appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) awarded $33,000 to 22 local organizations through their Connect IE Technology Grant. This grant helps Connect IE partners expand their technological capabilities through online services during COVID-19.

Family Assistance Program in the Inland Empire is one of the 22 community organizations who received a Connect IE Technology Grant.

“COVID-19 is one more stressor added on top of our clients existing challenges,” said Aaron Scullin, executive director of Rim Family Services, Inc. “It has made the delivery of our services even more vital. Through the generous grant, [we are] now able to purchase needed telehealth equipment and software which will help us meet the growing need.”

Receiving $1,500 each, grant recipients also support 211 San Bernardino County, 211 Riverside County and Coachella Valley Health Information Place. These organizations include:

• AIDS Assistance Program

• NPHS, Inc.

• Axis Foundation

• Operation New Hope

• Boys & Girls Club Redlands

• Option House

• Community Health Systems, Inc.

• PARKTREE Community Clinics

• Desert AIDS Project

• Planned Parenthood

• Desert Cancer Foundation

• Project Access

• Family Assistance Program

• Rim Family Services, Inc.

• Feeding America Riverside & San Bernardino (FARB)

• Rolling Start Inc.

• Heartbeat at 22 (DBA Mama’s House)

• Samaritan Counseling Center

• Jewish Family Services of the Desert

• The LGBTQ Center of Palm Springs

• Martha’s Village and Kitchen

• Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy

“This grant helps provide mental & behavioral health services via telehealth,” said Doug McKown, executive director of Samaritan Counseling Center. “Now more than ever, our clients need the psychological & educational services our caring staff provide. We are grateful to Connect IE for helping us facilitate healing and hope to those in need.”

To be eligible for the sponsorship, organizations were required to be located in either Riverside or San Bernardino counties, provide multidisciplinary health and human services, and be active users on the community resource search platform, Connect IE.

“During this crisis, community needs for support and resources grew exponentially,” said Dr. Gabriel Uribe, IEHP community health director. “We had to step in and offer support so that organizations could transition and operate in new ways to continue to bridge gaps related to social determinants of health.”

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: Community Organizations

The post Community Organizations Receive $33,000 from Technology Grant appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.