Fr. Jon Pedigo, Director for Advocacy & Community Engagement, receives his COVID-19 vaccine.
Catholic Charities offers COVID-19 Vaccine Education, Outreach, and Access
Catholic Charities has supported community health and safety throughout the pandemic, and is currently focused on vaccine outreach, education, acceptance, and access. Multiple programs are engaged in this critical effort, including our Community Engagement, Disaster Services, and Immigration Legal Services teams. Activities include:
“knock-and-talk” visits in targeted neighborhoods with lower vaccination rates,
partnering in a text messaging campaign,
and facilitating vaccine distribution with the County and Gardner Health at local parishes that serve as easily accessible and trusted environments for residents.
“COVID-19 has elevated the importance and critical need for the Parish Engagement Program and our weekly ‘community markets’ that are open to all and operating weekly at three parishes in San Jose and one in Gilroy,” according to Fr. Jon Pedigo, Catholic Charities’ Director for Advocacy and Community Engagement. “We know that individuals and families who come from marginalized and underserved communities have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s impact. And we’ve seen first hand that they have endured much higher levels of rental/housing crises, job losses, COVID-19 cases and death rates, and are currently facing lack of access to or misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.”
A grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, awarded this summer to Catholic Charities and project partner Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, is providing funding to increase COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and delivery in targeted communities in Santa Clara County. The project goals are 11,000 vaccine doses administered by May 2022 and 55,000 vaccine education brochures distributed in areas with low vaccination rates.
Catholic Charities’ volunteers and staff are distributing vaccine education materials developed by the Markkula Center to the thousands of residents who visit the community market locations – Our Lady of Refuge in the Santee neighborhood in East San Jose, St. Leo Parish in downtown San Jose, and Christ the King Parish in the Edenvale neighborhood in South San Jose. The City of San Jose is also funding outreach conducted by our Disaster Services team in targeted neighborhoods with low vaccination rates.
Additionally, Catholic Charities will manage the day-of logistics related to vaccine distribution, including providing information, registration assistance, in-language support, and traffic management, as needed. Registration will be prioritized to residents of the high-risk, high-needs neighborhoods surrounding each parish. Volunteers who work within these communities will conduct outreach and offer transportation to help individuals get to vaccination sites and appointments.