Abstract
The unprecedented global disruption caused by COVID-19 has illuminated structural racism and systemic inequities in healthcare, public health, and socioeconomic status. How these inequities are addressed will influence whether we can control or stop the pandemic. Prioritizing collaboration and equity and investing financial and social capital into community leadership is essential to mitigating and addressing both the short- and long-term repercussions of COVID-19. Through analysis of, and evidence from, the lived experiences of a national network of African American pastors, the authors recommend four strategies to expedite recovery from the pandemic in the African American community and to promote enduring beneficial societal change: (1) public health and faith communities should initiate and maintain ongoing relationships that are based on trust; (2) recognition and acknowledgement by public and health care organizations that faith community leaders possess unique knowledge of their communities; (3) inclusion of faith community leaders as full partners when planning and strategizing, making decisions, solving problems, and developing policies that affect community wellbeing; and (4) use of an intersecting approach that recognizes the multifactorial realities of COVID-19 and uses remedies that effectively address existing and new problems in a comprehensive, long-term manner.
Highlights
The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a number of rifts in the social fabric of the USA
The Project Trust Model calls for increased use of community-based pastors as trust agents to assist public health and other government agencies that interact with people who are distrustful of these agencies
In two previous articles (Thompkins et al, 2020a, b), the Justice and Peace Foundation has urged African American clergy to take an active role in public health messaging and counseling their congregations about the need for trustworthy collaboration
Summary
The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a number of rifts in the social fabric of the USA. Keywords COVID-19 · African American communities · Faith communities · Trust · Public health · Structural racism · Systemic inequities If public health officials and medical professionals want to repair these relationships, they need to restructure the systems by which they engage African American communities.
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