California State Alliance of YMCAs

Vaccine Equity Campaign | Cohort Two

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After seeing success through the first cohort of the Vaccine Equity Campaign, the Alliance was asked by Sierra Health Foundation and the California Department of Public Health to participate in a second cohort of the Vaccine Equity Campaign. After reviewing what that second cohort would entail, the Alliance alongside our local YMCAs decided that it would greatly benefit the community if we applied for the second cohort.

The California State Alliance of YMCAs worked with six YMCAs from November 2021 to May of 2022 to host vaccination sites and distribute vaccination awareness and access information to improve vaccination rates among communities in the state.

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Each YMCA created a culturally relevant, localized approach that would cause a ripple effect to reach the goals of the grant:

  • The Anaheim Family YMCA hosted vaccination clinics with South Marina Pharmacy. Bilingual staff would help guide families through the appointment process to receive a vaccination. Through their network, the Anaheim Family YMCA was also able to promote their vaccination clinics at their afterschool programs as well as their Family Resource Fairs, which occurred in low-income apartment complexes.
  • The Corona Norco Family YMCA was able to share vaccine education and awareness information with thousands of community members through social media, flyers that were shared among community partners, and door-to-door canvassing by RUHS-PHD and YMCA staff. Through their community, they were able to provide vaccination information to their 11 program sites.
  • The YMCA of Greater Whittier was able to operate their clinic on weekends during peak hours which allowed working families to attend. Their YMCA promoted their clinics to nearby nonprofits and businesses with the goal being to reach different groups in the area – members, residents, and employees.
  • The West San Gabriel Valley YMCA was able to host a total of 5 vaccination clinics in partnership with 986 Pharmacy in La Verne. Due to their demographic breakdown, they focused their outreach to seniors that participated in their fitness classes as well as childcare families.
  • At the Sonoma County Family YMCA, they hosted community events in partnership with the County of Sonoma Health Department as well as Fox Home Health. Through the use of tabling and local radio stations, they were able to reach a wide variety of demographics for their vaccination clinics.
  • At the Central Coast YMCA, they hosted bi-weekly vaccination clinics in partnership with their local county health department. By having staff on hand that spoke Spanish and translated materials, it helped build a deeper connection and sense of trust within the community to share COVID-19 information.

With these stylized approaches, the six YMCAs informed over 6,500 people about COVID-19 vaccinations. Through vaccination pop-up sites at these local events, there were also over 200 people vaccinated.

In seeing the success throughout this campaign, the Alliance recognized our strength in using our unified voice to make a collective impact throughout the communities we serve.