Activating Equity: Building Countywide Partnerships with Latinx Indigenous Migrant Covid-19 Response Task Force (LIMCRTF)

What does it look like to apply cultural context and an equity lens to pandemic response strategies? What can we learn from the hard work of developing a task force to advocate, engage different voices and expand access to lifesaving resources? 

Early in the pandemic, the California Department of Public Health identified that COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths were disproportionately hurting BIPOC communities. In response, The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has worked together with community partners to address health inequities exacerbated by racial inequality and language access and truly save lives.

With partnerships via the Latinx Indigenous Migrant COVID-19 Response Task Force (LIMCRTF), Santa Barbara County has been able to help coordinate pandemic resources (testing and vaccines, PPE, disease information, and more) with a focus on contemporarily and historically under-resourced communities. 

During Partnership for Excellence, you’ll hear from Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s Timothy Watts in conversation with Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project’s (MICOP) Ana Huynh, as they share their key lessons in taking on language access as a barrier to care and safety in public COVID communications.
Beyond healthcare, Timothy and Ana will reveal their insights on the spirit of co-governance, building relationships, engaging community input, and tough task force conversations as foundations for desired change.