Asian American COVID-19 Outreach, Resources, and Education (CORE)

On January 20, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented the first case of the 2019 novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in the United States. As the virus spread across the globe, we learned that SARS-CoV-2 caused the disease Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.  This pandemic has drastically impacted every facet of our lives from the ways in which we worked and lived to the approach to our physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial health. These unprecedented times led to an unprecedented need—a need for quality, reliable health services, health education, and information about local health and social support services. Since 2020, AAHI has served as a leader in the response to COVID-19 in the Asian American community by connecting community organizations and community members with critical information, services, and resources.

The Asian American COVID-19 Outreach, Resources, & Education (Asian American CORE) program is a collection of AAHI’s response efforts to COVID-19, which include the AAHI COVID-19 Relief Fund, informational town halls and community events, supporting vaccine and testing access, educational workshops, and a myriad of outreach efforts. As the community’s needs around COVID-19 evolve, AAHI continues to provide an array of COVID-19 services available to individuals and organizations on demand.

COVID-19 Relief Fund

COVID-19 Relief Fund for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Montgomery County is one of the most diverse counties in the U.S, with over 50% of the County’s population being minorities. Among those, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities account for about 15.2% of the County population. Because of the growing diversity and wide range in language, culture, and socioeconomic status within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, providing education and services to people of AAPI descent is more complex and requires custom approaches to reach the at-need communities. The complexity of these needs is exacerbated by the pandemic.

In response to these needs and to supplement the extraordinary work of Asian American community organizations, AAHI unveiled the COVID-19 Relief Fund for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The fund provides financial support to community organizations providing culturally and linguistically appropriate education, outreach, and assistance to AAPI residents to access vaccines, combat Anti-Asian hate crimes and bias, provide mental health and social services to those who have suffered and help residents bridge the digital divide when using technology to navigate care and services across the age span.

Through a competitive grants process managed by the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, AAHI provided one million dollars of funding to 11 Asian American serving community organizations to:

• Develop and disseminate linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate outreach materials to educate the community about COVID-19, the spread of infection, and vaccination (Outreach & Education)
• Provide access to COVID-19 vaccination and disease testing services in the language of preference (Vaccination & Testing)
• Provide linguistically accessible information and support for critical social services offered by the public and private sectors (Social Services)
• Educate and empower AAPI youth and families to stand against anti-Asian violence, hate, and racism and promote the protection and safety of all Asian Americans (Anti-Asian Bias & Hate crime education)
• Reduce stigma around seeking mental health services and encourage people to seek treatment (Mental Health Services)

COVID-19 Mental Health Resource Guide

To support county residents and bridge the resource gap related to hate, bias, and harassment reporting, AAHI launched the Mental Health Resource Guide: Asian American Community Hate-Bias & Reporting Resources.

This guide highlights Montgomery County and Maryland State hate crime and bias reporting resources, Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) resources, various special interest groups, and task forces committed to supporting victims of hate crimes. Additionally, this guide also includes available legal services, mental health services, community organizations, and more.

This guide is not an exhaustive list of all the resources available in the county. If there are any resources that you would like to be added to this guide, please let us know at AAHI@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Responding to Anti-Asian American Backlash

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation has been a major challenge. Since little was initially known about COVID-19, it was difficult to discern what was fact and fiction. Unfortunately, some of this misinformation incorrectly and falsely insinuated that Asian Americans were to blame for the spread of the COVID-19 virus. While responding to the devastating impact of COVID-19, the Asian American community was simultaneously responding to an increase in anti-Asian American sentiment and backlash. Asian Americans across the country became the target of hate crimes, intimidation, discrimination, and bias. To respond to this unique impact of COVID-19 on the Asian American community, AAHI has developed several tools and resources.

Anti-Asian Backlash & Discrimination Educational Resources

The anti-Asian backlash and discrimination has a tremendous impact on the mental health Asian Americans. Coping with such incidents has been challenging but so has been handling such incidents. AAHI offers a variety of resources to handle such incidents in the moment such as our “Stop Hate: The 5 Ds of Bystander Intervention” resource reproduced with permission from hollaback! on bystander intervention in an easy-to-understand handout.

AAHI also offers training sessions on Bystander Intervention through partnerships with MCPD and other organizations. If you would like to host a Bystander Intervention training at your organizations, please email us at AAHI@montgomerycountymd.gov.

If you or your organization would like more information about hate crimes or would like community education on this topic, please contact us at AAHI@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Townhalls & Community Education Workshops

To keep the community informed about the latest updates around COVID-19, AAHI has hosted and participated in several community education workshops, townhalls, and forums.

Community Education Workshops

As a part of AAHI’s ongoing community outreach efforts, AAHI offers a variety of workshops on different topics, including COVID-19.  Some of the presentations AAHI can provide include:  how to protect yourself from COVID-19, COVID-19 and its variants, COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, the latest Montgomery County COVID-19 data trends and programs, how to access County COVID-19 resources, and many more.

If you would like to invite AAHI to present on any topic related to COVID-19, please email us at AAHI@montgomerycountymd.gov.

You can also find up-to-date news on COVID-19 at the CDC website and the Montgomery County COVID-19 Dashboard.

COVID-19 TESTING

COVID-19 VACCINATION

AAHI expanded its COVID-19 mitigation strategy by assisting with popup vaccination sites. Since vaccines became available, AAHI facilitated the hosting of popup vaccine sites at several Asian American community- and faith-based organizations: Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC), Chinese Bible Church, and Vietnamese Literary and Artistic Club (VLAC).  AAHI continues to provide expertise in expanding access to the COVID-19 vaccine and testing for Montgomery County Asian American residents.

For assistance in setting up vaccination clinics, please contact AAHI at AAHI@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240-777-4517.

SMALL BUSINESS OUTREACH

The small business sector was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to safety restrictions and social distancing requirements, many of the county’s small businesses experienced a drop in customers and loss in income. Asian Americans make up a large portion of the county’s small business owners and employees and were among the small businesses negatively impacted due to COVID.

Throughout the pandemic, as different financial relief opportunities were made available for businesses, AAHI ramped up its small business outreach program to ensure that businesses were aware of these different opportunities.  Early on in the pandemic, AAHI reached out to over 446 small businesses by phone and 457 small businesses by email. The AAHI team ensured these small businesses, and their clients, were aware of the various COVID-19 resources and clinics, as well as county assistance programs such as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), 3R Initiative Grant, Montgomery County Small Business Grant Program, Public Resource Education Program (PREP), rent relief, and many other programs.

AAHI continues to conduct small business outreach throughout the County to bring resources to this underserved population. To request handouts or COVID-19 for your small business or workshops, please reach out to AAHI.