UnidosUS Launches Mobile Tour to Support Esperanza Hope for All Campaign

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April 16, 2021

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WASHINGTON, April 16, 2021 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, this weekend will launch the mobile tour of its Esperanza Hope for All campaign. The mobile educational tour, which will run every weekend from April 16 through May 23, will take information about the COVID-19 vaccines directly into Hispanic neighborhoods across the country, including rural and urban communities where health resources are lacking or difficult to access. The effort is supported by the CDC cooperative agreement: “Increase Vaccine Coverage Across Different Racial and Ethnic Adult Populations Currently Experiencing Disparities” (RFA-IP21-2106).

Through local Affiliates, the mobile tour will engage Latino communities throughout Houston; Dallas/Fort Worth; the Rio Grande Valley; El Paso, Texas; Phoenix; Yuma, Arizona//Coachella Valley, CA; and Fresno/Stockton, California. Locations will include Hispanic grocery stores, strip mall centers, food banks, flea markets and current and former Melrose Family Fashions locations.

For its first weekend starting this Friday, the Houston tour will be at the Melrose, 13347 I-10 East Freeway, #9C from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday it moves to the Sunny Flea Market, 8705 Airline Drive from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A recent poll conducted by UnidosUS in partnership with Univision News found that 22 percent of registered Latino voters are still unsure about the vaccine and plan to wait a while before getting it. Twenty-eight percent say they have no idea how to register or tried and failed. The mobile tour is one way that UnidosUS is helping bridge the information gap, build trust in the COVID-19 vaccines, and ensure that the Hispanic community is included equitably in vaccine distribution efforts across the country.

The mobile tour is part of the institution-wide Esperanza Hope for All campaign to mitigate the health, economic and education effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Latinos. The campaign builds on the organization’s national advocacy and public health response to the pandemic in 2020 and will have a core focus on promoting vaccine equity.

“Latinos are more likely to require hospitalization or even worse die from COVID-19 since they face greater exposure to the virus because of their overrepresentation as essential workers. That is why it is imperative that we foster trust in the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and combat vaccine misinformation and disinformation. To do that, we have to reach out to Latinos where they live and ensure that information is delivered by people they trust in an environment where they’re comfortable. That is how we will help our community and our country recover,” said UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía.

UnidosUS will lean on its Affiliate Network to lead on culturally responsive education and outreach by training local trusted messengers; informing through dual-language communications; providing resources for local COVID-safe outreach and vaccination events and engaging local provider and community partners. The efforts include helping to expand equitable vaccine access through Affiliate health centers. In this initial stage, UnidosUS is deploying more than $2 million in grants to 35 Latino-serving community-based organizations including our network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).

UnidosUS is a national partner on the COVID Collaborative and Ad Council’s COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, helping to develop and distribute culturally relevant content for the Latino community.

Esperanza Hope for All’s comprehensive vaccine equity efforts are backed by funding from a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC and UnidosUS, and between HHS’s Office of Minority Health and Morehouse School of Medicine’s National COVID-19 Resiliency Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, Walmart Foundation, and The Pfizer Foundation*. Plus, generous in-kind support from Charter Communications, Comcast NBCUniversal and Telemundo, and Google.

*The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.

UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR (National Council of La Raza), is the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. Through its unique combination of expert research, advocacy, programs, and an Affiliate Network of nearly 300 community-based organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico, UnidosUS simultaneously challenges the social, economic, and political barriers that affect Latinos at the national and local levels. For more than 50 years, UnidosUS has united communities and different groups seeking common ground through collaboration, and that share a desire to make our country stronger. For more information on UnidosUS, visit www.unidosus.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.