Early on, we recognized that despite the copious amounts of information about COVID-19, many people lacked knowledge and awareness about the virus and its impact. In our communities and neighborhoods, the seriousness and reality of the pandemic did not set in for individuals until someone they knew, or themselves, became affected. This was partly due to the major gaps in access to resources in the most underserved communities, as well as the overreliance on virtual and digital tools to disseminate information.

Many of our community members were not connected to online resources, social media, and virtual platforms like Zoom. Although most faith leaders were conducting worship services online and were sources of pertinent information, many congregation members were not able to tune in. Furthermore, testing resources were sparse. On many occasions, we heard from community members that they stood in line for hours, only to be turned away because of limited supplies. In other instances, they simply did not know where to go to get tested.

Countless times during this pandemic, we have been reminded of the importance of community. For Black Health, this meant employing our community mobilization framework, which we implement with our faith-based partners in New York City and across the region. For over a decade, we have implemented this model to reduce the impact of HIV in the communities that we serve. Given the opportunity to establish new COVID-19 education programs across the five boroughs, we have:

• Expanded upon our relationships with faith-based leaders because they trust us;
• Improved upon the model by extending the work into block and tenant associations;
• Engaged other community leaders to educate their neighbors; and
• Leveraged stakeholders, gatekeepers, and volunteers who had established long-lasting relationships in and meaningful connections to their communities.