The Role of Anti-Racist Community-Partnered Praxis in Implementing Restorative Circles Within Marginalized Communities in Southern California During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the adverse influence of structural racism and discrimination experienced by historically marginalized communities (e.g., Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and transgender people). Structural racism contributes to trauma-induced health behaviors, increasing exposure to COVID-19 and restricting access to testing and vaccination. This intersection of multiple disadvantages has a negative impact on the mental health of these communities, and interventions addressing collective healing are needed in general and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Share, Trust, Organize, and Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), a statewide collaborative of 11 universities and 75 community partners, includes several workgroups to address gaps in COVID-19 information, vaccine trial participation, and access. One of these workgroups, the Vaccine Hesitancy Workgroup, adopted an anti-racist community-partnered praxis to implement restorative circles in historically marginalized communities to facilitate collective healing due to structural racism and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project resulted in the development of a multilevel pre-intervention restorative process to build or strengthen community-institutional partnerships when procurement of funds has been sought prior to community partnership. This article discusses this workgroup's role in advancing health justice by providing a community-based mental health intervention to marginalized communities in Southern California while using an antiracist praxis tool to develop a successful community-institutional partnership and to live up to the vision of community-based participatory research.

Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in the LGBTQIA Community.

Objectives. To report findings from qualitative research that describe sources of hesitancy and barriers to vaccine uptake among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) populations. Methods. In March 2021, we conducted focus groups with members of the Los Angeles, California LGBTQIA community to identify barriers to becoming vaccinated. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 32 individuals in 5 focus groups. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes. Results. Historical and ongoing medical trauma, including misgendering, and perceived emotional violence emerged as significant barriers to LGBTQIA individuals becoming vaccinated. Fear of violence was found to be a major barrier among transgender individuals, whereas fear of an unwelcoming vaccination site was a barrier for seniors. Finally, surviving was a higher priority than becoming vaccinated. Conclusions. Participants reported vaccine hesitancy and barriers that are unique to the life experiences of LGBTQIA individuals; these include medical trauma, violence, stigma, and discrimination. Our findings highlight the need to include LGBTQIA leaders and trusted individuals in the development of vaccination education and the delivery of vaccination services. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(3):405-407. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306599).