Local Agencies Discuss the Impact of Covid-19 on Vulnerable
Communities
By Tricia Hall
Sojourner’s Truth Reporter
Ohio recently launched the Restart Ohio plan that will
gradually re-open different industries and implement safety
guidelines, but African Americans are still at a higher risk
of a COVID-19- related death. Local agencies discussed
available resources and specific impact on vulnerable
communities during a 90-minute Facebook live event on
Thursday, May 21, 2020.
Wendi Huntley, the president of Connecting Kids to Meals,
served as panel moderator. The panelists included: Rachel
Gagnon, the director for Toledo-Lucas County Homelessness
Board (TLCHB); Tina Gaston, the Kinship Navigator Program
Supervisor for Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio;
Rosalyn Clemens, the director for Department of
Neighborhoods City of Toledo; Joaquin Cintron Vega, the
president and CEO for Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA).
The panelists discussed how vulnerable populations and
African-American communities are impacted in the areas of
housing, homelessness and employment during this pandemic.
Recent conversations had focused on how COVID-19 has
impacted seniors and older residents. The local Area Office
on Aging is responsible for local efforts that protect this
population. “We are making sure that our older population
and seniors are getting enough resources during COVID,”
explained Gaston. “We see the anxiety from caregivers,
family members and even the seniors. We have set-up efforts
to conduct contactless wellness checks on seniors by phone
calls. We check-in to see how they are doing and are they in
need.”
LMHA is another agency that is focused on a targeted
community; LMHA manages many properties in the community and
wanted to provide clear communication to residents once
COVID-19 was first announced locally. “Our biggest initial
challenge was communicating with the residents at the
various sites,” explained Vega. “We wanted to provide ample
information, set-up a plan, work with the Toledo-Lucas
County Health Department, and implement active prevention.
Once communication was established, we worked with our
community partners to make sure that each resident had all
five of the basic needs. They are food, shelter, access to
water, clothing and warmth.”
The City of Toledo’s Department of Neighborhoods interacts
with the community and local agencies through many different
sub-departments and services. In addition to managing the
recently announced mini-grant program and COVID-19 relief
funds, the department oversees the federal housing related
dollars that focus on homeless populations and service to
low-to-moderate income communities. The department is
preparing to submit a required five-year City of Toledo
plan.
“This department is charged with many tasks including
supporting quality housing, code enforcement, workforce
development, and oversight of federal housing related
dollars. Our community, the black community, is more likely
to live in distressed housing, 48 percent of African
American city of Toledo residents live below the poverty
line,” said Clemens.
According to the City of Toledo’s draft annual action plan,
there are at least five agencies that focus on homeless
prevention, including Toledo-Lucas County Homeless Board.
“The current homelessness population and those on the brink
of homelessness are the vulnerable populations during this
pandemic. This conversation couldn’t have come up at a
better time. The homeless in general already deal with a
combination of issues that may also impact African Americans
disproportionately more than other populations, these issues
are redlining, racism and factors within the criminal
justice system,” said Gagnon.
The Governor stated during last week’s Thursday 2:00 p.m.
press conference that African Americans are dying at a
higher rate due to COVID-19 and Clemens provided specific
examples that supported this statement.
“Our community, the black community, is impacted because we
have the direct service jobs and we’re not able to teleport
our work from home. Our jobs require interaction with the
public. We need to look at developing real workforce
development that provides a living wage. Our health concerns
in the black community are exacerbated during COVID,” said
Clemens.
The City of Toledo Department of Neighborhoods has provided
masks to the community and nonprofits during a distribution.
The department is partnered with Stop & Go to distribute
additional community masks, plans to partner with Toledo
City Council members to distribute masks to each district,
and launch a renter’s assistance program.
“We’re presenting this new program to city council soon.
This $2 million-dollar program would assist existing tenants
that have loss income over the last three months, it will
also aid the homeless who want to transition into a rental,”
said Clemens.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department reports that as of
May 24, 2020 Lucas County had 1950 confirmed cases, 185
confirmed deaths, and 12,762 tests performed.
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