Unseen COVID-19 Leaders

The Minnesota Freedom Fund pays criminal bail and immigration bond for those who cannot afford to as we seek to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic folks are still being held on bails they cannot afford.

Because of coronavirus, hospitals across MA were running out of ventilators and were instructed to institute a system called “crisis standards of care“. This essentially is the system to choose who the winners and losers are and which patients get a ventilator and which do not. In essence, the more chronic medical conditions you have the less likely you are to get a ventilator if you are really sick, for example a person has diabetes would get two points making them less likely to get a ventilator compared to someone else who does not have diabetes. These guidelines would disproportionately bias against black and brown patients. 

Members of the 2020 NLC Boston Fellows class coordinated an advocacy campaign that included a social and traditional campaign; worked with the Black and Latino Caucuses of MA to submit a letter to the Governor; mobilized physicians, nurses, and social workers to speak out against the guidelines; organized health care providers to sign a letter with more than 1,000 signatures. 

On April 20, MA reversed course and revised the guidelines based on this activism and the work of groups throughout the state.

Approximately 200 individuals were tested and provided food to self-quarantine until their test results were returned from the lab. Listen to YT's Zag episode here. 

One Omaha teamed up with a technology platform in Seattle called "GroopIt" for neighbors to support one another.  Learn more about Alexis's work here. 

He is caring for under-served residents in the Southwest Houston/Sharpstown/Gulfton areas and swabbing patients for COVID-19. 

Dr. Cheng testified in front of members of Congress, speaking out against the growing racism against AAPIs and advocated for stronger labor rights for immigrants that mixed status families should be able to receive stimulus funding and expansion of ICE free areas, like food pantries and COVID testing sites. You can hear Dr. Cheng's remarks starting around the 15:30 mark here. 

Dr. Cheng shares her experience supporting patients in emergency rooms and how the virus has exposed so many of our social, political, and medical systems to be inequitable. Listen to Dr. Cheng's Zag episode here. 

The movement is sparking a conversation highlighting the faces of people of color who have been impacted during this pandemic. Learn more about #notjustablackbody here. 

The bite-sized news vlogs include daily quotes, affirmations, and uplifting news headlines. Find it on Facebook here.

Listen to Shadora's Zag episode here: https://soundcloud.com/thezagpodcast/episode-204-w-shadora-ford

Nicole has been advocating hard for agencies to allow for sessions over the phone and video conferencing to adhere to needed social distancing while also providing necessary services. 

During this COVID-19 crisis, as people are stressed and overwhelmed with having hours cut, being laid off, worried about their safety at work, or unable to go to work because of shelter-in-place orders, Empower Work is providing critical support for working Americans. Read trends they're seeing, ways we can all be leaders in times of crisis at work, and how you can get help right now.

Listen to Pearl's Zag episode here. 

Similar to a Little Free Library, the pantry works on an honor system, where neighbors can take or leave canned food, supplies and personal care products.  “I’m looking forward to seeing how neighbors come together again,” Gutierrez said in an interview with Rivard Report. “I think we’ve gotten away from a lot of that.” Check out the full story here.

The group connects neighbors via WhatsApp to provide a bridge between volunteers and those who need support for things such as grocery or pharmacy pickups. Read more about Crystal's work here. And listen to Crystal's Zag episode here. 

As a Lieutenant Colonel, he is a senior logistics officer in charge of acquiring and distributing PPE to Soldiers conducting COVID-19 screening sites and distributing meals throughout Maryland. When not on military duty, as the community liaison to Delegate Wanika Fisher, Esq (D-47B) he is volunteering to distribute supplies to his neighbors in Hyattsville, MD.

When many of his co-workers had to transition to work from home, Kedrick prepared hardware and software to help them with the transition, and taught them how to effectively use technology from home so that they could continue to work. Recently his town of Pine Bluff, Arkansas experienced a terrible storm that left thousands of residents without power, damaging several homes including Kedrick’s. While continuing to go in to work and navigating COVID-19 restrictions, Kedrick helped his senior neighbors to make sure that they had the resources and technology needed to stay in touch with their families while being socially isolated and navigating the post storm damage.

The guide, which can be found here, focuses on essential materials most useful to those working to prevent the spread of COVID-19, protect the safety of staff and people experiencing homelessness, and prevent people from becoming homeless as a result of the outbreak. 

The mission of the Relief Effort is focused on impacting eight areas of need including focusing on the health of Bronx residents and purchasing PPE for healthcare and essential workers, small business relief, distributing micro-grants, food insecurity, equity and justice, housing stability, non-profit economic relief, and connectivity and technology gaps.

Derrick is partnering with NLC Honorary Co-Chair Michael Blake, and several other Bronxites, elected officials, community advocates, and nonprofits to provide direct, integrated relief to the Bronx through a unified response.

Learn more about the work Derrick is doing at thebronx.org.

Additionally, through her nonprofit Next Leadership Development Corporation, Dr. Martin is synthesizing resources in Boston into a searchable, regularly updated tool for Black residents who are disproportionately bearing the economic and health burdens of COVID-19 in Boston. Listen to Dr. Martin's Zag episode here. 

As the President of NJ Policy Perspective, Brandon is committed to seeing New Jersey recover in a manner which reduces the inequities and disparities that have worked to cause and worsen this crisis.

The fallout from COVID-19 disproportionately affects Sakhi's clients who are overwhelmingly immigrant women of color with little to no income—and if employed, often in hourly wage work in service jobs that are being decimated by growing social distancing requirements.  Sakhi is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 related calls from existing clients who are losing jobs, facing food and housing insecurity, and experiencing pressure to allow abusers back into their homes—violating orders of protection. These setbacks are also creating mounting levels of anxiety and depression among clients, taxing the organization's mental health services. In response, Sakhi has modified all of their core services to maintain continuity of support for clients; expanded their Food Justice Program to address rising food insecurity; and expanded their Client Emergency Assistance Program to provide immediate help to clients in crisis.Kavita's work during this crisis has been uplifted in The New York Times, Vice, CNBC and Market Watch. 

Listen to Maria's Zag episode here. 

Along with her her general surgery co-residents, Dr. Muchinyi is taking care of COVID patients in the ICU at the NYC H&H home programming in addition to an external rotation at Northwell Health facilities. General surgery residents have ICU training and are playing a crucial role in conjunction with critical care teams across the country. 

Dr. Nakhasi's clinic, the Martin Luther King Outpatient Center in Watts, Compton is a COVID-19 testing site.  Learn more about the work he is doing here. 

These days, the clinic is staffed with a skeleton crew to minimize exposure to coronavirus.

May has answered an online survey about her areas of expertise and what ages she can care for so that when the expected surge of coronavirus patients needing hospitalization hits the Houston area, she could be pulled to work in a new location and setting to help out.

Using the organization's CNC router, they are able to produce 120 visors in one hour, where it would typically take three hours to produce one visor.  Better Building Block Foundation has open-sourced their design so that anyone anywhere can download and start producing face shields. 

The goal is two-fold: get the PPEs into the hands of those who need them; create some jobs for those with CNCs who find their business is suffering. A few weeks ago, Krista's team was building a bike lane. Today, they're building face shields.

This fund provides a one time $500 cash transfer to Chicagoans who have lost income due to the effort to contain the virus. They have a goal of raising $3 million for Chicago residents.  Learn more about their work here.

Behind the scenes, Jonathan created the grant application infrastructure online to make it accessible for all nonprofits, assisted in raising over $800,000 for the fund, and managed the communications and marketing about the response fund, which has distributed over $650,000 in grants so far. 

Michelle was deployed as part of the city's response to the virus as part of a team setting up Isolation and Quarantine hotels for the city's most vulnerable, those who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, or awaiting results, with no place to self isolate. 

This fund provides a one time $500 cash transfer to Chicagoans who have lost income due to the effort to contain the virus. They have a goal of raising $3 million for Chicago residents.  Learn more about their work here.

Councilman Solomon has been working to expand a proposed ordinance that would freeze rent in Jersey City to include those in one-four family homes.  Solomon also created a letter writing campaign where volunteer connect with senior over the age of 70 during this time of isolation. 

Read her recent article here.

In addition to her legal work as an attorney and her dedication to the mutual aid network in her neighborhood in West Oakland, she is also holding reentry restorative justice circles over Zoom to support folks on parole and probation who are facing additional housing and employment barriers during the pandemic. 

He just completed two terms out as an elected Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner and currently chairs or has chaired the Berkeley Zoning Board, Housing Advisory Commission, Peace and Justice Commission, Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter (where he served 35,000 members across four Northern California Counties as the first immigrant and the youngest chair in modern chapter history), and New Leaders Council Oakland. 

Professionally, Igor is a federal safety specialist and engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy and has completed nuclear safety, nonproliferation, and COVID-19 response assignments in California, Nevada, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Central Asia. Igor is also the co-founder of a boutique consulting firm specializing in political campaigns and media strategies that help elect primarily BIPOC candidates to local office, and an acclaimed speaker and published writer on housing equity and clean energy topics. 

He writes on the topics of housing and environmental justice and clean energy, including From the United States to Kazakhstan, Cleanly: Solar Energy Policies and Technologies to Power the Electric Grid and his NLC Compact paper The Triple Bottom Line. The Policies and Practices of Achieving Environmental Sustainability, Affordable Housing, and Exceptional Labor Standards.

 He serves as a DNC Climate Crisis Council Advisor, California Democratic Party’s Resolutions Co-Chair, California Democratic Party’s Environmental Caucus officer, immediate past California Young Democrats National Committee Representative, and is the immediate past founding co-chair of both the Young Democrats of America and California Young Democrats Environmental Caucus. More locally, he is a Member-Elect and Founding Legislation Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. 

Igor’s recognitions for his work include a Certificate of Congressional Recognition by Rep. Barbara Lee for creating the Berkeley Foreclosure Prevention and Resources Workshop; the California Young Democrats Vanguard Award, and NLC, federal, and Young Elected Officials Network recognition for his community service during COVID-19.

 In addition to the NPC, Igor serves as an NLC Oakland Co-Director Emeritus, a LEAD Trainer, a published author through the NLC Millennial Compact and NLC SparkTalk program on housing affordability and anti-displacement topics. 

Igor holds an M.S. in Engineering Management from Duke University, a Certificate in International Security from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley (GO BEARS!).

Nolef Turns has delivered thousands of meals and various supplies, medications and entertainment/technology options for families with youth. They are paying for hotel stays for individuals who are not eligible for permanent or transitional housing, which is at an increase since some families are diverting recently released individuals because a lack of coronavirus testing. 

The Nolef Turns team is doing this all while still helping with restoration of rights, voter registration, employment and housing searches, behavioral health referrals, social service programs, submitting pardons and clemency packages and empowering those who are directly impacted by the criminal and juvenile legal systems to get involved and make changes in our broken systems.