Esperanza is thrilled to announce that they have been awarded funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to do COVID and flu vaccine equity work and programming for a third year. Esperanza will continue to work with the Latino community of Hunting Park. For the past two years, Esperanza has been funded by the CDC; however, this year is different as they will be partnering with Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) – Philadelphia, PA (apmphila.org) located at 1900 N 9th Street in Philadelphia.
APM is a Latino-based health, human services, community, and economic development non-profit organization. They offer a variety of different services that are bilingual and culturally sensitive at 13 sites in North Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Some of the areas of focus include affordable housing, food security, and behavioral health for adults. APM offers a variety of services such as employment assistance, early childhood education and daycare, foster care, adoption assistance, and substance abuse treatment.
As mentioned above, one of APM’s areas of focus is health. They have behavioral health clinics that offer individual therapy, couples counseling, family, and group therapy, and so much more. Additionally, they have emergency resources available such as the APM emergency line and telehealth options. All of these services are offered in Spanish to better serve the Latino community. Lastly, APM is the first Philadelphia agency that provides treatment for substance use disorder for the Latino community. Overall, APM is committed to serving the community with high quality services.
Esperanza plans to work with APM this upcoming year. Esperanza will invite APM’s community leaders to be a part of the Our Voices, Our Vaccines Steering Committee. The steering committee will consist of community members from different categories such as pastors, business owners, block captains, youth, and community-based organizations. They will shape and lead the outreach process to advance towards equity in vaccine uptake in North Philadelphia. Additionally, during the meetings Esperanza will ask APM for their feedback on existing health communication materials and will work together to make new materials to supplement pre-existing. Lastly, we will collaborate with APM on some health-related events throughout the year.
APM and Esperanza are committed to serving the North Philadelphia community, which is why they have decided to work together, so that they can tackle health challenges head on. Both organizations have been advocating for health-related resources such as masks and COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that community members live healthy, fulfilling lives. For many people, vaccination is not a simple ask, and the right resources and support can help them achieve the best outcome for their own health and those around them. Esperanza and APM are committed to providing the best resources and support to ensure that people can thrive and have a good quality of life.
This article is part of Esperanza’s community COVID-19 and flu vaccine project (Our Voices, Our Vaccines), which informs and engages Latinos on public health and vaccination programs impacting their well-being.
