Grandes aportes. “Agradecemos a Dios por este nuevo aniversario y a todas las personas que han apoyado nuestra visión de amor y de ayuda a la comunidad inmigrante en los últimos 20 años”, dice Patricia Sobalvarro, directora ejecutiva de ALPHA, una organización que tiene a otros dos pilares, Damaris Velásquez y Vilma Gálvez, guatemaltecas todas, que trabajan día a día para darle voz a los latinos con un equipo de voluntarios, mentores, Iglesias, aliados comunitarios, miembros y estudiantes. 

Por Radio Luz de Boston, las tres activistas salen al aire para apoyar diferentes campañas comunitarias bajo el lema “nunca es demasiado tarde para dar forma a nuestro futuro y para ayudar a muchos inmigrantes a hacerse ciudadanos norteamericanos”. Otra de sus preocupaciones es apoyar a los jóvenes a no dejar la escuela y a lograr una carrera universitaria. 

“Muchos de nuestros jóvenes son capacitados y bajo la supervisión de nuestro personal, ayudamos a muchas personas a completar su solicitud de naturalización”, indica Vilma Gálvez que tiene toda una historia de trabajo en asuntos de inmigración.

Con el apoyo de la Congregación León de Judá, Patricia, Damaris y Vilma siguen desplegando grandes esfuerzos para ayudar a inmigrantes que perdieron sus trabajos debido al COVID-19. “Han sido tiempos difíciles para muchos trabajadores latinos y mucho más para los que no tienen papeles”, anotan.

En los primeros meses de la pandemia en el 2020, “muchas personas de nuestra comunidad tenían miedo de buscar ayuda. Después de años de vivir con el temor constante de ser detenidos y deportados, simplemente no se arriesgaban a que su información se compartiera. Escuché muchas historias”, dice la pastora Johana Pérez, de Harvest Ministries. ¡los inmigrantes están ansiosos por sentirse seguros en sus comunidades!

Las tres activistas guatemaltecas están felices de celebrar los 20 años de ALPHA con la comunidad inmigrante apoyando las campañas de vacunación contra el COVID-19 y antes motivando a “nuestra comunidad a participar en el Censo 2020. Nuestro apoyo ha sido fundamental para asegurar un conteo completo y preciso”, dicen. 

“Los inmigrantes fortalecemos América”, el lema de la campaña de ALPHA y es en lo que Patricia Sobalvarro cree y comparte con todos los que llegan a ella. Su propia historia y la historia de miles que han compartido su propio caminar con ella en ALPHA es lo que la ha inspirado a pelear a favor de la comunidad inmigrante y a crear espacios seguros donde los inmigrantes pueden abrir sus corazones y recibir la oportunidad de alcanzar su potencial como seres humanos.

“Como su mejor amiga, habiendo sido indocumentada por 22 años, nunca me tuve que preocupar de hacer mi compra, salir con amistades, perderme una cita médica o simplemente manejar a la playa durante mis vacaciones de verano, porque Patricia estaba siempre dispuesta a llevarme”, anota Damaris Velásquez.

Con Vilma Gálvez que desde sus inicios como inmigrante trabajó en el Departamento legal en la Cruz Roja Americana, ALPHA ha ayudado a muchos inmigrantes a hacerse residentes y luego ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos.

¡Felicidades ALPHA por su vigésimo aniversario!

Agencia ALPHA
62 Northampton Street,
Suite H101
Boston, MA 02118
psobalvarro@agenciaalpha.org

Hardest-hit communities have lowest rates of uptake, according to a new analysis.

By Felice J. Freyer Globe Staff,Updated January 18, 2022, 6:10 p.m.20

Like thousands of people, Gladys Vega was out sick with COVID-19 the first week of January, bedridden for seven days. And like millions of others, Vega hadn’t gotten the booster shot that might have prevented her illness, or made it milder.

Vega wanted the shot — she even runs an agency that provides vaccines, the renowned Chelsea community service group called La Colaborativa. But, Vega explained on Friday, her voice still hoarse,she had gone three times to a vaccine clinic, only to find lines so long she knew supplies would run out before she could get to the front.

That might explain why Chelsea, despite doing a famously stellar job at vaccinating with the first two doses, has one of the lowest rates of booster uptake — 41 percent of those eligible, the seventh-worst community in the state.ADVERTISINGRELATED: Chelsea, a city hit hard by COVID, has become a vaccination standout

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As the Omicron surge demonstrates the urgent need for booster shots, the third doses are rolling out unevenly across the state, and the uptake has been slowest in hard-hit communities like Chelsea, according to an unpublished analysis of state data.

“We’re seeing the same sorts of inequities in the booster rollout [as] we did in the original vaccine rollout,” said Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association.

By definition, those eligible for booster shots already have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, so hesitancy is not the issue.

Still, the percentage of eligible people who have receivedthe third shot has been increasing steadily statewide. Governor Charlie Baker’s administration last Thursday announced $13.5 million in federal funding to support 20 communities with high COVID-19 case rates and high proportions of people of color. The state also has asked for and received support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to supply 56 vaccinators in needy communities and 51 to work in community health centers.

Statewide, 58.1 percent of the 4 million people who are eligible for booster shots had received them as of last Thursday, according to an analysis of Massachusetts Department of Public Health data by Alan Charles Geller of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. That’s up from 50 percent at the end of December. The analysis included only people 16 and older who had received both vaccine doses before July 7.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/8387716/embed?auto=1

Town by town, the uptake ranges from 32 percent in Middlefield (in Hampshire County) and Millville (near Woonsocket, R.I.) to 81 percent in Goshen (near Springfield), to more than 95 percent in Tyringham (in Berkshire County).

Among the 20 communities with the lowest rates are cities that are home to low-wage essential workers and thus have been especially hard-hit by the pandemic: Lawrence, Everett, Chelsea, Lynn, Revere, Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, Lowell, Springfield, and Worcester.RELATED: Northeastern study reveals racial disparities in navigating the pandemic

Throughout the vaccination rollout, Geller said, the cities at highest risk of COVID-19 tended to have the lowest vaccination rates.

The leaders of local groups that serve the most vulnerable communities, especially people of color and immigrants, point to two problems. Some people may not know they need a booster shot. And, they say,the vaccine effort has been hamstrung by the same staffing shortages afflicting the entire health care industry — there aren’t enough people available to administer the shots, making it difficult to schedule clinics.

“We’re seeing a huge influx of people who want to get vaccinated,” said Kevin Whalen, coordinator of Equity Now and Beyond, an umbrella group for immigrant organizations. “It’s been a sea change since mid-November.” But community groups, eager to “strike while the iron is hot” and able to organize clinics, have had trouble finding people to administer the vaccines, he said.

Dr. Charles L. Anderson, chief executive of the Dimock Center in Roxbury, said the health center had to stop offering its vaccination services to community groups. “The capacity is just not there,” he said. Because so many staff members are out sick, Dimock is barely able to meet the demand for vaccinations among its own patients at the clinic.

Boston Emergency Medical Services also has had to cut back on providing vaccinators for community clinics, said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. But the commission has held its own clinics, as well as supporting clinics in Mattapan, Dorchester, and elsewhere, she said.

But access is not the only obstacle. Dr. Julia Koehler, a Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrician who volunteers in immigrant communities, said many immigrants “have never heard about Omicron and they have a lot of other stuff to worry about, to put food on the table and pay the rent and get their kids to school.”RELATED: Massachusetts immigrants hit hard by COVID-19 economic losses, safety concerns, new survey says

Low-wage workers often don’t speak English, or have a personal physician, or paid time off, said Pavlos, of the public health association. Getting boosters to such people requires strategies that take these challenges into account, “not just saying, ‘Here they are. You can make an appointment.’ ‘You can make an appointment’ is not a strategy that is going to make [vaccines] truly accessible,” she said.

Dianne Wilkerson, cofounder of the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition, said she was astounded when the Baker administration recently opened a mass vaccination site at Fenway Park, repeating what she saw as errors of the past, when the initial vaccine distribution seemed to favor the wealthy and connected.

Although the state also recently opened sites in Roxbury, Wilkerson asserted they are vaccinating people from the suburbs who come for the short lines, while the people they’re intended to serve shy away, fearful of government-run operations, unable to sign up, or unaware that they exist.

“The state has steadfastly refused to acknowledge the importance of working with the people on the ground,” Wilkerson said.

Immigrants “are not going to go” to state-run vaccination sites, said Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants Assistance Center in New Bedford, because they have great fears about the vaccine. “You have to really listen to their concerns,” DaSilva Hughes said. They need to hear the facts from people they trust and also need translation services and “a lot of hand-holding” while filling out the paperwork, she said. Her organization has worked primarily with Catholic churches, asking for time near the end of Mass to talk about the vaccine and then holding clinics right after Mass, with Spanish-speaking doctors on hand to answer questions.

Hundreds of medical professionals call on Baker to prioritize vaccine access for Black and immigrant communities

Damaris Velasquez‚ director of programs and cofounder of Agencia ALPHA, an immigrant service organization in Boston’s South End, put it this way: “My community comes from countries where city hall is not a friendly place to be. . . . They need to have access to this vaccine in places where they feel comfortable.”

But when Agencia ALPHA held a vaccination clinic at a local church before the Christmas holiday, a lone nurse came to administer the shots. About 100 people showed up, most seeking boosters. And some waited for hours before the overwhelmed nurse had to turn away 25 of them, Velasquez said.

Katelyn Reilly, a Baker spokeswoman, said that all state vaccination sites take walk-ins and that reaching these vulnerable communities has been a priority for the administration. “A core principle of the state’s vaccine program has been to address vaccine equity and ensure access for the Commonwealth’s most disproportionately impacted communities, a principle that has continued to be a priority in rolling out boosters,” Reilly said in a statement.

The state has targeted $46 million since last February for vaccination efforts in 20 hard-hit communities, including the $13.5 million in federal money announced Thursday. The latest funding will support community health workers, start a new program focused on rural communities, and extend outreach programs at 45 community groups, includingthe Black Boston COVID Coalition, the Immigrants Assistance Center,and La Colaborativa.

Asked what advice she had for the Baker administration, Velasquez said, “Trust the small community organizations that are already established. Don’t spend money paying these big names, big corporations. Sometimes to reach the community you want to reach, you have to do it in the bodega.”

Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition It’s Time for Legislators to Deliver for Immigrants! In Washington and on Beacon Hill, it’s time for our representatives and legislative allies to show their commitment to immigrants and to people of color.  Both Congress and the Massachusetts legislature are now considering legislation that would change and uplift the lives of immigrants everywhere: Congress allocated $100 billion toward immigration in the current reconciliation bill. Our legislators must use this opportunity to create a path to citizenship for our undocumented communities. Legislators are debating options that would only provide temporary work permits and protection from deportation through parole. But MIRA supports a proposed path to citizenship through the “registry” process, which granted green cards to millions of immigrants without status in the 1980s and could be extended again.Here in Massachusetts, Haitian frontline organizations are hopeful that the state Senate will allocate ARPA funds for resettlement assistance to the hundreds of Haitian families that have arrived in Massachusetts in recent weeks.Lawmakers also have the opportunity to pass the hugely popular Work and Family Mobility Act, which would allow all qualified state residents to apply for a standard driver’s license, regardless of immigrant status.The Safe Communities Act is still pending before state lawmakers. It’s a critical bill that would allow immigrants and their families to safely access police and court protection, as well as medical care, without fear of deportation. Finally, state lawmakers have a once-in-a-decade chance to correct decades of gerrymandering on the South Coast by ensuring that proposed Congressional district maps unify the New Bedford and Fall River into a single district that builds the power of immigrant and working-class communities. All these initiatives require political will and bravery. It’s time for legislators to take action. Immigrants can’t wait!   – Get Involved! – Support the Pathway to Citizenship! We’ve created an action that makes it simple and easy for you to let members of Congress know how important doing the right thing for our immigrant communities is, and to urge them to do everything they can to ensure that the final reconciliation bill includes a pathway to citizenship for as many of our community members as possible. Join Today! Help Us Make Safe Communities a Reality! Help protect immigrants here in Massachusetts – Sign the Safe Communities Coalition petition today! Passing the Safe Communities Act will communicate loud and clear that in Massachusetts, everyone can seek help, protections and treatment without fear of deportation. This is a message that immigrant communities desperately need to hear. You can also join us on November 18th for a Safe Communities Act Virtual Town Hall at 3:30PM! The event will feature immigrant workers, immigrant survivors of domestic violence, and advocates talking about why the passage of the Safe Communities Act is essential and what you can do to take action. Interpretation will be provided.   Sign up at bit.ly/scath21. Get Involved With Redistricting! The Redistricting Committee Co-Chairs released their draft maps for Congress and Governor’s Council this week. While the Congressional map adopts Drawing Democracy’s recommendation to make Fall River whole, it fails to unite the immigrant communities of Fall River and New Bedford in the same district. You can make your voice heard and ask the Committee to unite Fall River and New Bedford by testifying at the public hearing on Tuesday, November 9th at 11 am, submitting written comments through the 9th, and/or emailing your legislators.  – Announcements – Congratulations to MIRA Board Member Mossik Hacobian, who was honored at the Thompson Island Outward Bound’s Evening Expedition Gala with the North Star Award for his service in Boston and on behalf of immigrants around the Commonwealth.   Mossik has served as Executive Director of Higher Ground Boston, a non-profit organization focused on bringing resources and services to Boston’s most challenged neighborhoods, for more than 10 years.   – News – – Associated Press: Massachusetts lawmakers release congressional district map – Boston Globe: Michelle Wu wins historic Boston mayor’s race, marking a new era for the city  Immigrant groups coalition demands Michelle Wu ‘engage Boston’s Black and brown immigrant communities with the respect they deserve’    MIRA Member Spotlight – Each week, we’ll be using this space to spotlight our outstanding MIRA members and the work they do for their communities. This week, we’re highlighting Casa Myrna!   Casa Myrna is Boston’s largest provider of shelter and supportive services to survivors of domestic violence, providing safety, resources, advocacy and information since 1977. Casa Myrna was founded in 1977 by neighborhood activists in Boston’s South End to provide a safe haven for women and their children who were being abused by their husbands and partners. The organization was named for Myrna Vázquez, an actress and activist who organized members of South End’s Puerto Rican community around housing, education and civil rights.  Each year, Casa Myrna serves over 1,600 survivors through three residential programs, housing assistance and advocacy, financial literacy education and job readiness, individual and group counseling, legal advocacy and representation, children’s services, and community-based advocacy. Thank You! Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media!Donate to MIRA Today!Want to change how you receive these emails?You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy In Massachusetts, One Conversation At A Time06:29

The blue bus stands out on this narrow street running through a neighborhood of subsidized housing in Revere. If you miss the banner announcing “Vaccine Information” or the mounted TV scrolling through vaccine FAQs or the table stocked with masks and hand sanitizer, maybe this announcement will catch your attention.

“Good afternoon neighbors, we are here with the City of Revere and Mass General Brigham distributing the free food boxes.”

04:00Mar 18, 2021

As you pick up a box, someone from Massachusetts General Hospital is there to help and strike up a conversation. How are you and your family doing? Have you been touched by COVID? Have you thought about getting the vaccine?

This is vaccine outreach as the state and nation race to stop the spread of the coronavirus and mutations that could trigger another surge, restrictions and more deaths. At least one national poll shows growing interest in the vaccines with Blacks exceeding whites. Thirty-seven percent of Latino respondents still say they don’t plan to get vaccinated.

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Massachusetts has funded a vaccine campaign that will focus on 20 communities with the highest rates, but some hospitals, health centers, churches and other groups are already out — looking for residents who are hesitant, and encouraging them to talk about why with people they trust, in places where they are comfortable.

In Revere, a woman in an orange Ford Fiesta pulls up next to the blue Mass General Brigham van. Someone slides a box of produce and dried goods onto her back seat then asks if she has any questions about the vaccines. Nope, she’s on board, just waiting her turn for a shot.

Khadija Sona, who stops to pick up a box of food, says she doesn’t want a COVID vaccine.

“If I have to do it, I will do it to work or go to my country, Morocco,” Sona says, “but I would rather not.”

Sona says she’s heard the vaccine is not healthy. She doesn’t want to elaborate. A nurse steps over to talk about why some people feel sick after getting the vaccine; it’s because their body is building immunity to the coronavirus. Haroon Sidiqi has heard similar concerns about side effects from hesitant co-workers but says he trusts the vaccines.

“We live in the best country on the planet,” he says. “This country will not give something to their own people if it’s not safe enough.”

Dr. Joseph Betancourt, the senior vice president for equity and community health at Mass. General, has been out with the van, talking to residents in Chelsea and Revere.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations with people, and here’s the stereotype breaker,” he says. “In many communities we’ve been in, people are actually very eager to get the vaccine. The questions we’re getting are more about where can I get it, when is my turn.”

Vaccination rates are slightly lower in Revere compared to the state as a whole. As of last week, 9% of Revere residents were fully vaccinated, compared to 12% statewide. Among white residents of Revere, 13% are fully vaccinated. The rate for Black residents is 8% and for Latinx residents it’s 3%.

Betancourt says that lower vaccination rates in some hotspot communities are less about hesitancy and more about the lack of easy access to a vaccine. There are two pharmacies that offer vaccines in Revere. Beth Israel Lahey Health has a clinic for patients in that system, and there’s a public clinic one town over from Revere. But the two closest mass vaccination sites are about a 30 minute drive, much longer via public transportation.

“Until we’ve made vaccine available in communities, made people aware and been able to facilitate scheduling, it’s only until then and we see low numbers that we can say it’s because of vaccine hesitancy,” says Betancourt. “Today quite frankly, vaccine has not been readily available, in easy ways, in hard hit spots across the state.”

Betancourt and other doctors say easy access means more local clinics, where people can walk in without the hassle of online registration, in familiar places. Six Boston churches are testing something like that model this month.

At Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Miniard Culpepper leads a team of volunteers in prayer before opening the door to the basement social hall for a pop-up vaccination clinic run by Whittier Street Health Center.

“The church is in the business of saving people, that’s what we do,” Culpepper says. “We save people, we save lives. Now we’re trying to save lives in a much different way.”

That’s not an easy sell for some parishioners who wonder why they should trust a drug the U.S. government is urging them to take.

“If you look at the history of how the government has treated African Americans,” Culpepper says, “how we were tricked, it’s a challenge to help folks understand that the coronavirus doesn’t discriminate against anybody.”

But a fear of COVID trumps vaccine resistance for Pleasant Hill community members in line today.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t take into account the history of what happens to African-Americans, but I don’t want to die from COVID,” says Nazaleem Smith, a retired teacher who got a walk-up appointment.

Lucille Culpepper-Jones, the pastor’s sister, says she never gets shots, including the flu vaccine. But Culpepper-Jones has had several lung surgeries.

“I would rather take the chance with the vaccine than with COVID,” she says. “And oh yeah,” she’s nervous.

Vaccine outreach and the questions posed by residents will vary. Many younger people are less worried about dying from COVID but still have concerns.

“Does it do anything to your reproductive system?” asks Gabriela Wood during a routine appointment at the Lynn Community Health Center.

“I’m very comfortable that it’s not going to affect fertility or even a pregnancy, I’m fairly certain that’s not going to happen,” says her physician, Dr. Kiame Mahaniah.

Mahaniah started this appointment with Wood, as he does now with many patients, by asking if she’ll get vaccinated.

“I don’t know, it just scares me,” she says. “There’s so much out there and so much misinformation, it’s hard to know what to believe.”

Mahaniah asks Wood more about why the vaccine is scary, where she gets information and whether her family and friends plan to be vaccinated.

“The thing that really influences people whether or not they’re going to get the vaccine is what their social circle is doing,” he says, after the appointment.

Wood has some skeptical family members. She’s eligible for the vaccine based on some high risk medical conditions but has declined so far.

Mahaniah is having a lot of open-ended discussions with patients about their health and vaccines. He says it’s pretty clear that giving people more data is not persuasive. Instead, he uses a technique known as motivational interviewing as he would with patients who smoke or who are due a screening test they’re avoiding.

“I don’t approach these [conversations] as me being able to provide them with the right information to make the right decision,” Mahaniah says. “I’m really approaching these as, let’s try to create a space in which a conversation can happen where they can evince their doubts, their uncertainties.”

There may be data that’s useful at some point, but the initial conversations are about the patients thoughts, opinions and world views.

“So instead of me being pro-vaccine and the patient being anti-vaccine, it’s really about eliciting the parts in the patient’s own thinking that are pro-vaccine,” Mahaniah says.

It’s a time-consuming process but one that is unfolding in clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, churches and many other sites as we get closer to a time when there will be access to vaccine appointments for a broader swath of the public and rising pressure on people who are still hesitant.

This article was originally published on March 14, 2021.