Grant Proposal

The Tragedy Of COVID-19 On Low Income Communities

By: Jenny Hernandez & Herman Amevor

The Coronavirus pandemic has been a huge issue worldwide and continues to be an issue due to the current impact that it has on civilians. During this time of change due to Covid-19, we have witnessed unemployment, the closing of schools, and economic disruptions. Socially, the disease has reduced interactions between people and their friends and family because of the many lockdown orders and social distancing regulations that many states have forced upon these civilians. While it may be tempting to go outside, people have to adapt to a new way of life being that they must wear masks and gloves when they go out to public places in addition to maintaining six feet between people so the rate of infection can be reduced. Based on the current state of the coronavirus pandemic, it will be a long while before people can return back to normal life because infections amongst the public continue to rise without the possibility of a vaccine anytime soon.

To begin with, there are industries, ways of life, etc, that were immediately paused or needed to re-evaluate, however, it has created an especially paramount burden on low-income and “at-risk” communities. The majority of minorities are working essential jobs like Walmart, Amazon, grocery stores, food delivery services and so on, and for the most part, it’s not because they want to, but because the majority of their jobs do not have “paid sick leave”; so they can’t afford to call out or work remotely. The majority of low-income immigrants do not have adequate access to affordable health care, which makes it difficult for them to get adequate preventative care to report their illness, not to mention them fearing the revelation of their citizenship status, which consequently holds them back from visiting any hospitals. The majority of the hospitals around these communities tend to be closed down or lack funding, and proper medical supplies. The majority of minorities can’t afford to ‘’self-quarantine’ because some tend to live with a lot of people. This goes to show that if one of them were to test positive for the virus, they’d all get it as well. Nevertheless, African Americans and Hispanics represent the majority of people who live in low income and disadvantaged communities; the language barrier makes it impossible for them to access information on prevention, testing, and quarantine guidelines. For that reason, it’s very understandable that minorities such as blacks and Hispanics are not fully aware. There’s always a solution to any sophisticated problem. In this problem, we have to address the fact that fellow minorities are not able to understand information that could help prevent them from catching coronavirus due to the fact that there is a huge language barrier for these minorities. With all of that being said, as a group, we are proposing that we earn a grant of $5,000, in which we could use so we can create posters that we can put up in the streets showing some of the precautions one can take to help further prevent the number of minorities infected by COVID-19. There are still so many things that are unfamiliar to minorities regarding COVID-19, so, it would be useful to use our knowledge regarding the virus and share it with others, so that they can make sure to take the precautions and steps needed to ensure they stay safe. 

To add on, amongst New York City, there are many minorities who speak many diverse languages and as these people interact in the world, they find it hard to find the understanding in the many things that are presented in front of them due to the language barriers that they have between their language and the standard English. An example of the many languages spoken by minorities is French, Spanish, and Chinese. With our objective, everywhere people go, there will be signs that will be posted all around low-income and at-risk communities based on the languages that are heavily spoken in those low-income communities. Even as these signs will have information about COVID-19 prevention on them, we will make sure that these signs are artistically appealing and understanding for people to view which will bring a lot of awareness. 

Furthermore, in order for us to track down where the virus is striking the most, we will be conducting a COVID-19 mini-survey where minorities will be able to tell us if they’ve experienced or have been exposed to any of the following symptoms. The survey will consist of symptoms such as fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, a decreased sense of smell/taste, and other flu-like symptoms. These results will help us assess whether or not these people have or might not have experienced the virus. Many of the surveys that are being conducted around low-income communities ask the person for whether or not they have a health care provider, their social security numbers, and even their citizenship status. Our survey is intended to serve all people of different backgrounds; no matter your citizenship status, no matter your race, we welcome anyone and everyone to complete the survey. Since we want a lot of people to complete the survey with honest answers, we will make sure that the survey is short and concise and straight forward questions so no one feels as if they are taking a hardcore exam.

To conclude, although our way of living has changed drastically, there is still some good in all of this. We can take this quarantine time to appreciate and cherish the small things in life, whether that be through finding a hobby that interests you, creating a vision board, spending time at home with your family. People can also find time to get additional rest and exercise at home each day. Anybody who is going outside whether that be for shopping for what you need, such as food, supplies, exercising, or essential work, has to make sure that they leave their house with gloves and any type of cloth that covers their nose down to their chin. 

Citations:

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