At Public Good News, partnering with trusted local voices is baked into our DNA. As a nonprofit and community service-oriented newsroom, we listen closely to help produce accurate, accessible, and inclusive information in English and Spanish.
When we launched Community Voices more than a year ago, we hoped it would help us better listen to community health workers who were striving to increase vaccine access in their communities.
Thanks to our small but mighty team (read more about them here), which includes bilingual reporters and editors, we’ve conducted many of our interviews in Spanish so that nothing gets lost in translation.
Feedback loops like these helped us report on local solutions and strategies that work for CBOs, and provide answers to frequently asked questions to a broader network of health workers across the United States.
We also understand that, while getting underserved communities vaccinated for COVID-19, flu, RSV and other infectious diseases is still a priority, CBOs need support on other pressing health issues too.
“When we first started, we were mostly focused on mass vaccination because we were in an emergency state. But now that things have slowed down—most people have been vaccinated at least once—it’s time to look at true prevention.” —Corin Reyes, YWCA San Antonio
Health workers have long understood that a person’s health isn’t just about one factor; it’s influenced by many different factors, many of which are interconnected.
“We realized we can’t just stop there. We must find other paths to grow and be able to help people more.” —Noraima Chirinos, Latino Health Access
CBOs we’ve spoken with say raising awareness about vaccines can’t supersede someone’s basic needs.
Health workers also help seniors in their communities get enough to eat. They’re coaching pregnant people on the ways they can keep themselves emotionally and mentally healthy. And they’re screening for other diseases like cancer.
“For any program, you have to understand what’s important to the people you serve. Even though you can say, ‘It’s really important to get your vaccine,’ that may not be their first priority. Their first priority is, ‘How do I pay for my food? How do I pay my bills?’” —Carol Lemus, Lantern Community Services
We want Community Voices to better reflect the ever-evolving role and impact of community health workers.
That’s why we’ll soon expand our coverage to include more stories and interviews from CBOs and health workers in fields like reproductive health, mental health, and substance use.
We hope that by better understanding how community health workers are working across health topics, we can all come together to find more and better solutions.
In the meantime we want to hear your opinion. What else would you like Community Voices to cover?