When COVID-19 first hit, Mayra Cedano, executive director of the nonprofit Comunidades Unidas, knew it was going to have a profoundly negative impact on communities of color.
And she was right — in Utah and across the country, Latinos have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. According to a Pew Research Center report, this is partially due to how the Latino community has been deeply affected by the pandemic’s economic impact. Latino households lost jobs and wages, leaving many unable to pay their bills. Additionally, many Latinos are frontline or essential workers, which put them at a higher risk of contracting the virus. As a result, Latinos were hospitalized due to COVID-19 at higher rates than Utah’s general population.
In states across the U.S., demographic data among people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine show lower rate of vaccinations in areas with large populations of Black and Latino residents. Kaiser Family Foundation also reported Latinos are lagging behind in vaccinations nationwide.
Knowing the disaparities that were being worsened by COVID-19, in early 2020, Mayra Cedano quickly mobilized Comunidades Unidas into action to support Utah’s Latino community. Before a statewide plan was in place, her team spent hours translating important Department of Health documents and guidelines into Spanish. The nonprofit also dedicated a significant amount of time to education through community conversations, including virtual ones via Zoom, text and WhatsApp.
At the beginning of the pandemic Latinos compromised roughly 43% of positive COVID cases in Utah, despite making up 13% of the population. So, when test kits became more widely available, Comunidades Unidas was the first nonprofit to host an onsite COVID testing event. Within two hours of starting the event, 87 people were tested — a major success.
“We looked like astronauts,” says Cedano. “We were wearing like three to four different gloves, and this was in May 2020 when we didn’t know a lot about the virus.”
Because of Comunidades Unidas proactive leadership, they were one of the first partners invited to be part of Utah’s official state coronavirus task force.
Not only was Comunidades Unidas among the first to host testing and become part of Utah's official state coronavirus task force, but the nonprofit was also first in Utah to receive funding to continue testing events, and the first to host onsite vaccination events. Their COVID response was so robust that the White House took notice. On May 5, 2021, Dr. Jill Biden visited Comunidades Unidas’s vaccination event at Jordan Park, to show her support and learn more about the nonprofit’s services.
“Right there and then we asked her to recognize the importance of community health workers, and that they are essential and that we have a lot of immigrant essential workers out there that are putting their lives at risk for the rest of us,” Cedano explains. “And obviously we also took the chance to ask her to support a pathway for citizenship for essential workers and immigrant workers.”
Looking forward, the nonprofit organization will continue to meet community needs as they work with families to provide information about vaccines as they become available to children.
Clearly the work Comunidades Unidas puts into supporting their community is a labor of love.
“More than anything I think that something that we’re trying to do is to keep our families and those we serve at the heart and center of everything that we do,” says Cedano.
About Comunidades Unidas
Comunidades Unidas is a Utah-based community partner that has been around for 22 years. Their mission is to empower that Latino community to recognize their own potential and become a positive force for change in the larger community. They have a series of programs that focus on access to health, financial empowerment, and immigrant rights.