Community Care Package
Offering Hope and Inspiration During a Time of Crisis
By: Kathy Ko Chin
I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and well, as we wish that for all people around the world at this moment in time. Unfortunately, the pandemic is hitting us hard, even if we or our loved ones aren’t sick, this pandemic is affecting all of us. The world is adjusting to a completely new normal. It won’t be the same as what was before.
As I think of you, our leaders and supporters, I know that we’ve weathered many storms together. As we are fond of saying here at the Health Forum, we were built for this, to come together in moments like this. We want to hear you and know your challenges and triumphs. We want to see you and understand what worries you, but also how we can support each other to be brave.
This is a moment to be brave. Not reckless, but caring deeply for oneself and one’s loved ones, and also for our communities all across the country. Leadership is crucial. And leaders pull together in crises to help our people. Now is that time.
We are pulling together to support work that centers and uplifts AAs and NHPIs and all communities of color collectively. We are working to reimagine our society’s systems to be more equitable and how public policies can really meet the needs of those who have experienced the greatest harm from the pandemic.
This is what we’re doing:
- Launching a Community Care Package campaign to share the latest in-language resources, tools to support leaders and managers, and ways to sustain our connections with one another. We’re also proud to introduce the comic strip Day by Day. We hope the comic captures our shared struggles and triumphs during this unprecedented time and tells a story that we can all share.
- Working closely with our national coalition, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), to launch the NCAPA National AA NHPI COVID19 Task Force, where our membership of 35 national AA NHPI advocacy organizations across all fields and disciplines can coordinate and meet the needs of our communities across the country.
- Joining with our Racial Equity Anchor partners to make an urgent call to action against racism and discrimination targeting Asian Americans related to the coronavirus, as well as to take up the challenge of the work of relief, recovery, reconstruction, and repair, which centers communities of color.
We want to reaffirm and reactivate the ties we have collectively built over many years. Though we’re physically distanced, we can all still feel a sense of community and to act together to improve the health and well being of our communities. Be kind to yourself. These are difficult times and we need to not only be strong, but to recognize that we are human and that we each need support. Perhaps, that is the bravest we can ever be.
Take care. Be well. Stay Safe.
Kathy Ko Chin is the President and CEO at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum. This is the first of the #HFCarePackage series. To get regular emails from this newsletter, please sign up here.
