Tell Your Senators to Support Immunizations

"If you're going to get anyone to hear your message, you need the community partner who has the invested trust and faith and bond with the community," says Karina Ayala-Bermejo, President and CEO of Insituto del Progreso Latino, a Chicago community-based organization. We cannot build confidence in the value of vaccines without the support of community-based organizations (CBOs), but this week CBOs are making national news because they've continued to be excluded from large federal funding opportunities.

In an article in @CNN, our partner @diadelamujerlatina is featured:
"Venus Ginés, president of Día de la Mujer Latina, a health advocacy group in Texas, said that too often, community groups are asked to do health promotion work without receiving government funding. Many say they do the unpaid work because they care about their communities and don’t want to damage relationships with potential funders.

'We will always be in the kitchen. We’ll never be invited to the dining room table. That’s how we feel,' Ginés said."

Vaccinate Your Family (VYF) and Día de la Mujer Latina (DML) released a report in September 2022 outlining the failure of federal grants to support CBOs during COVID-19. According to the report, “Supporting Community-based Organizations to Reignite a Culture of Immunization,” the federal grant applications often excluded CBOs based on requirements including: quick response time, project length, and conditions of funding which allowed larger institutes to apply as CBOs.

We're glad this issue is being highlighted. You can read the report at the link in our bio. ...