$8M will fund fight against Covid-19 in Buffalo’s most ‘vulnerable communities’

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 04/22/2020

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Among other measures, the plan will funnel more than $1 million to the African American Health Equity Task Force, a joint project of East Side faith leaders, University at Buffalo academics and community health organizations, to conduct Covid-19 education and outreach efforts in Buffalo’s black communities. It will also provide grants to health care providers on the East and Lower West Sides to establish more sites for testing.

The plan comes after weeks of growing evidence that coronavirus has hit communities of color particularly hard, as well as vocal calls for governments and health care systems to step up more targeted interventions. Five of the seven Erie County ZIP codes with the highest concentration of Covid-19 are predominantly African American, according to an analysis by Alan Lesse, an associate dean at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.