Directly serving communities
NRC-RIM supports health departments and community organizations with their COVID-19 response in RIM communities by offering resources, training, technical assistance and other services.
We also work with our partners, like the International Rescue Committee and Migrant Clinicians Network, to implement innovative practices in direct service to RIM communities. Some activities they are involved in include:
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Designing and distributing vaccine campaign materials
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Organizing vaccine clinics
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Canvassing neighborhoods
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Hosting vaccine education events
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Supporting people in RIM communities during quarantine
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Facilitating COVID-19 testing
Community-Led Vaccine Confidence Campaign
The Migrant Clinicians Network worked with local communities to create custom versions of NRC-RIM's Vaccination Is campaign. Their staff then worked to distribute the materials throughout the community in an effort to increase vaccine confidence. Pictured: La Tía Mini Market in Salisbury, MD.
Related: Vaccination Is Campaign, Makespace, Initiating the COVID-19 Vaccine Conversation through Flyers
COVID-19 Kits: Providing Essentials to Refugee New Arrivals
The International Rescue Committee office in Salt Lake City provided "COVID kits" to newly arrived refugees. The kits offer an opportunity to build relationships and support vaccine confidence in the community.
Block Walk and Community Event
Staff from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Dallas went door-to-door to talk to people in refugee, immigrant and migrant communities about a neighborhood event where they could get COVID-19 vaccines and other important resources. This innovative community outreach effort was conducted in partnership with the YMCA and the local health department.
Related: Community Fairs Promising Practice
La Mujer Obrera fights COVID-19 in El Paso
La Mujer Obrera is an El Paso, Texas based community organization that has been providing COVID-19 resources to the Chamizal neighborhood of El Paso, an almost entirely Latino community that has a large population of Spanish-speaking, working-class residents living below the poverty line. They have used resources, materials, and graphics created by the Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN), in partnership with NRC-RIM, as part of their efforts to increase vaccination rates, show the reality of vaccines, and debunk many common myths within their community.
Related: Vaccination Is Campaign, MCN story
Youth & Young Adult Ambassadors
Youth and young adults in Clarkston, Georgia have been essential to the Dekalb County's COVID-19 response. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta has hired former refugees—now U.S. citizens and green card holders—as ambassadors to plan, promote, and run logistics for testing and vaccine events in their communities. Together—in partnership with Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)—they have provided their communities with more than 15,000 tests and 4,000 vaccines with interpretation in more than 20 languages.
Related: Youth Ambassadors Promising Practice
Campesinos Sin Fronteras Engages with Farmworker Community
A useful strategy Campesinos Sin Fronteras (CSF) staff have been implementing during the pandemic is staff being present at transportation hubs that immigrant farmworkers use to get to their jobs, such as public bus stops. Going as early as 2 A.M., staff are able to survey farmworkers as well as give them masks and other protective gear and information for how they can protect themselves from COVID-19. CSF has also been using MCNs ‘Vaccination Is...’ Campaign materials to enhance their efforts and to encourage COVID-19 booster shots.
Related: Vaccination Is Campaign, MCN Story
Boise Bicycle Project
Staff from the International Rescue Committee (IRC)'s office in Boise, Idaho, partnered with the Boise Bicycle Project to being COVID-19 vaccine education events to refugee, immigrant and migrant communities in the area. Learn about their approach to community partnership, multilingual communication and vaccine hesitancy from Georgette and Moise, two staff members who have led these efforts.
Related: Partnerships Toolkit, Pop-Up COVID-19 Vaccine Sites Promising Practice
Back to School Community Fair
The International Rescue Committee in Tucson, Arizona, brought communities together for a back to school event that doubled as an opportunity for attendees to learn about COVID-19 and receive their vaccine. By holding a festive, social event that paired COVID-19 efforts with the back to school season, they attracted nearly 150 participants.
Related: Community Fairs Promising Practice, Toolkit for Schools and School Partners
Videos with Trusted Faith Leaders
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta worked with Imam Sheikh Salahadin Wazir, the founder and CEO of African and Immigrant Communities in America, Inc. to create videos to encourage vaccine acceptance in a wide variety of Muslim communities in and around Atlanta.
