FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2021
Contact:
Rachel Noerdlinger, rnoerdlinger@mercuryllc.com
Amaris Cockfield, acockfield@mercuryllc.com
FPWA LAUNCHES NYS VACCINE EDUCATION & OUTREACH GRANT PROGRAM TODAY
COMMUNITY- AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS WORKING IN BLACK COMMUNITIES IN NEW YORK STATE CAN APPLY FOR GRANTS STARTING TODAY
New York City, NY – In the fight to bring an end to the devastation Covid-19 has wrought on communities of color, today FPWA is rolling out a Request for Proposals to community- and faith-based organizations whose mission it is to serve Black communities, and to provide vital information and access for vaccine take up.
The urgency to get vaccinated is as great as it has ever been because of the Delta variant and the reality that 98.8% of deaths from the Covid-19 infection in New York City this year were people who weren’t fully vaccinated.
According to the New York State Covid-19 Tracker, as of July 29, 70.8% of New Yorkers who have received at least one vaccine dose are white, while only 12.6% were Black, one of the lowest vaccination rates for any racial group.
One week ago, on July 27, Governor Cuomo announced the allocation of $15 million to address vaccine hesitancy and promote vaccination in communities across New York State that were hardest-hit by the Covid-19 epidemic. FPWA was awarded $5.5 million to support vaccine education and outreach across the state, specifically in Black communities.
The goal of this effort is to fund programs that will assess, create and disseminate information that supports vaccine confidence and uptake for vaccine-eligible individuals. Grant recipients will address misinformation by tailoring their programs to the concerns of individual communities.
FPWA was chosen as one of the five nonprofit awardees because of its early commitment to disseminating accurate Covid-19 and vaccine information while encouraging vaccine acceptance. We were one of the founding members of The Task Force for Vaccine Equity and Education, with the goal of ensuring accessibility and addressing concerns in Black communities about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. We also served on Governor Cuomo’s Vaccine Equity Task Force; the $15 million grant program is an outgrowth of this task force.
About FPWA
FPWA is an anti-poverty policy and advocacy organization committed to advancing economic opportunity and upward mobility for low-income New Yorkers. Having a prominent New York presence for nearly 100 years, FPWA has long served New York City’s social service sector, providing grants to help individuals and families meet their basic needs, and advocating for fair public policies on behalf of people in need and the agencies that serve them. FPWA’s member network of 170 human-service and faith-based organizations reach more than 1.5 million people in New York’s communities each year. Join us at fpwa.org, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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