Project Aims, Outputs, and Benefits to the Community

Project Aims

 

  1. Understand the diverse economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and response among immigrant communities in the St. Louis Metropolitan area

  2. Identify local immigrants’ experiences and barriers in accessing COVID-19 related healthcare and other support services or forms of assistance (e.g., language access challenges, limited knowledge about COVID-19 and access to services)

  3. Identify immigrant community members’ priority information needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess optimal methods of information dissemination to diverse immigrant groups

  4. Assess COVID-19-related impacts on immigrant service providers’ operations and develop strategies to address these institutional and staff-level challenges

Proposed Project Outputs

 

  1. Policy brief highlighting COVID-19-related impacts, experiences, and needs of immigrant communities in St. Louis

  2. De-identified data shared with members of the Immigrant Service Providers Network and their partners for their own advocacy and programming purposes

  3. Presentation / webinar of findings for: the immigrant community, service providers,  city and county officials, Washington University leadership

  4. Outreach materials and information dissemination strategies responsive to identified information gaps and needs

  5. “Service map” of available services for the immigrant community and service providers at Washington University, as a resource for immigrant service providers

  6. Draft of academic article highlighting study findings and importance of including immigrant communities in pandemic response and decision-making

Benefits to Immigrant Community Members

 

  1. Incentives for direct participation in survey / interviews

  2. Referrals to available resources

  3. Presentation of results in a webinar or other meeting

  4. Amplification of stories and voices of immigrant community members not currently being represented in the St. Louis region

  5. Greater visibility of the needs of the immigrant community for program and funding  inclusion

  6. Improved access to information (e.g., enhanced dissemination of existing materials or development and dissemination of new materials re:  know your rights information, legal status, service options, etc., in response to identified gaps)

Benefits to the St. Louis Community at Large

 

  • Making immigrant community needs visible to funders, policymakers, and stakeholders at large

Initial COVID-19 data collection from government and healthcare entities did not disaggregate the specific impact on immigrant communities. Combining rigorous data collection with the guidance of immigrant service providers and experiences of community members, this project sheds greater visibility on the ways that the pandemic has been and is affecting immigrant communities in particular.

  • Identifying needs for future work

The data will inform areas of collaboration where providers can come together to help the community get the response they need. For example, this can lead to further projects that Washington University and ISPN are willing to undertake as interventions and solutions.

  • Improving information dissemination

By gathering experiences of community members, this project can help inform better ways for providers and stakeholders to disseminate information. This project may also help find ways to make existing information resources more  accessible, such as translation, distribution, and ideas for different formats that are easier for community members to find or use.

  • Building awareness of how COVID-19 has exacerbated existing challenges and fears of violence against the immigrant community

Results can highlight the ways COVID-19 has exacerbated existing challenges, including violence and fear of violence against immigrant communities, providing a resource for advocacy on behalf of immigrant communities.

  • Strengthening relationships among different immigrant communities & service providers

This project is also an opportunity to build relationships across the immigrant community in St. Louis by connecting people who all have the same vested interest: making sure the impact of COVID-19 on immigrants is addressed and not overlooked.

  • Long term collaboration with Washington University

Washington University, as an institution, has been a long-time neighbor in the St. Louis Community and a more recent community partner within the ISPN. This project represents an effort to be more responsive and accountable to other service providers and community members. This learning stance will help provide guidance to current and future Washington University collaborators to become co-conspirators and co-learners, as well as position Washington University as a reciprocal entity, one that is a resource to the whole community.