The David and Lucile Packard Foundation awarded the U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership $2.5 million to significantly increase COVID-19 support for Hispanic and undocumented communities in the United States, it was announced Wednesday.
The partnership between the foundation, the BPP, the Ventanilla de Salud health, and wellness outreach program of the Mexican consular offices in the United States and 51 nonprofit agencies is intended to increase COVID-19 testing and vaccinations and allow for trusted, safe and effective delivery of coronavirus information.
“This partnership will allow a robust and more equitable rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that infection, hospitalization, and death rates do not remain disproportionately higher among Hispanic and undocumented communities,” said Andy Carey, executive director of the BPP.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics are 1.7 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than their white counterparts, 4.1 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19, and 2.8 times more likely to die from COVID-19. In at least 35 states, Hispanics are vaccinated at lower rates than all other groups.
This program intends to address multiple access barriers in the Hispanic and undocumented community, including fear and vaccine hesitancy, bias and discrimination, lack of health insurance, limited English language proficiency and concern for the loss of employment.
Created in 1964 by Lucile Salter Packard and David Packard, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, the foundation’s mission is to improve the lives of children, families and communities and restore and protect the planet.
The BPP is a binational membership organization whose mission is to support a network of organizations that build prosperity through leadership, collaboration and philanthropy in the U.S.-Mexico border region.
The Ventanilla de Salud program at Mexican consulates in the United States is a health and wellness outreach initiative of the Mexican government intended to provide preventive health care services to the diaspora community residing in the United States.
City News Service contributed to this article.