Harris County

Harris Cares: Embrace Hope (healing, Opportunity, Prosperity, Equity) - Harris County Public Health (HCPH) Intends to Develop the Harris Cares: Embrace Hope (healing, Opportunity, Prosperity, and Equity) Initiative to Initiate and Mobilize the Transition of Public Health Response From Emergency Recovery to the Mitigation of COVID-19 and Long Term Impacts of Health Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. the Initiative Utilizes Four CDC Strategies to Improving Health Equity in Disproportionately Impacted Communities. Strategy 1 Focuses on Maintaining and Growing Contact Tracing and Case Investigations in Disproportionately Impacted Communities and Ensuring a Representative and Equity-trained Workforce. Strategy 2 Focuses on Securing Foundational Data Collection and Automation for Disease Surveillance as Well as Expanding on Disparity Analyses to Inform Both Operational COVID-19 Response Decisions and Long Term Health Impacts Related to the Social Determinants of Health. Strategy 3 Focuses on Expanding Public Health Infrastructure for Health Equity Planning Internally and Jointly With Community Stakeholders. Strategy 4 Focuses on Mobilizing Partners Through a Three Pronged Approach. Strategy 4 Leverages Partnerships With a Historically Black College/university for Outreach and Community Engagement, Leverages the Well Established Health Equity Collective for Development of a Community Information Exchange and Alignment of Strategies on Social Determinants of Health With 130+ Community Organizations, and Lastly Provides Funding for Population-based Approaches to Collective Impact With Local Community Organizations With a History of Serving Disproportionately Impacted Communities.these Strategies Are Based on Hcph's Harris Cares 2020 Report, Ongoing and Existing Analyses of COVID-19 Disparities in Harris County, Hcph's Equitable Testing Strategy (2020) and Vaccine Equity Strategy (2021), and Reports Provided by Partners on the Perceived Impacts of COVID-19 on the Health of Harris County.