By Justin Fernandez, Ajmaanie Andre, Kymani Hughes, Krystal Li and Angely Peña-Agramonte Urban Health Media Project Hannah Corcoran had her plan in place: after graduating from high school, the Miami teen wanted to attend her dream school, the San Francisco Art Institute, and major in art. But then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Hannah was forced...
Tag: Covid-19
Systemic racism spurs COVID-19 to hit Florida communities of color harder
By Julianne Hill, Justin Fernandez, Gabriella Fuster, and Melissa Noda Urban Health Media Project Florida’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic unmasked disparities in healthcare based on socioeconomic factors, disproportionately hurting communities of color in the state while exposing weaknesses in leadership, according to a Florida health expert. “We know from our country’s history that responding...
Virtual learning harbors its own gifts
By Tamar Coon Urban Health Media Project Before March of 2020, everything was normal: I was in 8th grade at Columbia Heights Educational Campus. We were reading a book that I loved. Then, my homeroom teacher started talking about a plague, and I heard about a virus and lockdowns happening in China. All of a...
‘I thought I was the only one’: Peer support groups help teens fight loneliness, isolation of COVID-19 pandemic
By Olivia Fendrich and Radiah Jamil On a fall day outside Francis Scott Key High School in Carroll County, Md., a circle of chairs was arranged in the grass, where about 50 members of Sources of Strength took turns trading truths and seats. From the center of the circle, junior Sarah Myers introduced herself to...
Surviving Trauma: COVID-19 Deaths Only One Trauma Young People of Color Face
BY SAMARAH BENTLEYURBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECTNEW ORLEANS -- In one week, a patient of New Orleans clinical psychologist Dr. Baraka Perez lost three family members to COVID-19: Her father, brother and a nephew. "I'm seeing more of that than I care to," said Perez, who for 20 years has been helping children, adolescents and their parents...
Surviving Trauma: She Walks In Her Truth: Washington Woman Works to Help Other LGBTQ+ People of Color
BY VANESSA FALCON URBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT WASHINGTON, D.C. — Heidi Ellis, 36, was taught to love reading, to love her culture, and to love herself. Ellis, who identifies as lesbian and came out at the age of 19, knows she was lucky — lucky to be loved for who she is. Still, as a...
Surviving Trauma: Intergenerational Violence Affects Many in Black Community
BY AJMAANIE ANDRE URBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT MIAMI – Charlene Bouie felt different from other children from an early age. It was decades, though, before she fully understood why: She’d been sexually abused, multiple times, by the time she was a young teenager. Then as an adult, she was physically and verbally abused by her...
Surviving Trauma: Separating Siblings in Foster Care Can Be Cruel
BY IJEOMA OKERE URBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT WASHINGTON, D.C. — Growing up in the city’s foster care system, Lisa Cohen bounced between 13 different families over 19 years. Now 52 and a former boxing champion and motivational speaker in northwest Washington, D.C., Cohen never had a birthday party as a child, and has almost no...
Surviving Trauma: Domestic Abuse, Dulos Killing Motivate Mothers’ Political Activism
BY GILLIAN LAMPHERE and SAMANTHA ROSENGARD URBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT GREENWICH, CONN. – It was only in looking back that the southern Connecticut mother of two saw all the red flags in her marriage: her husband criticized her looks, their childrens’ looks, how she cleaned the house, even her cooking. He’d stand over her, watching...
Surviving Trauma: Even Years Later, Trauma from Parkland Shooting Translates to Action
BY MICHELLE MAIRENA URBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT Twitter: @michemairena MIAMI — It was Logan Rubenstein’s first week of freshman year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. During math class, there was a fire alarm. None of his classmates moved from their seats. Then a student started to cry. It was only six...