Public Equity focuses on street outreach to reduce community violence in Englewood and West Englewood. During the COVID outbreak, they expanded their outreach to educate people about the vaccine. ​They used grant funds conduct door-to-door outreach and put on 30 events to educate and vaccinate. Events include quality of life fairs, where they reclaim vacant lots to offer vaccination, nutrition advice, gym memberships, and free yoga classes. They also held “pop-up” events in East Englewood to encourage on-site vaccination and sign-ups for in-home vaccination.

Started in 2015 by Gage Park High School students, TGI Movement offers youth leadership development programs year-round for 13-24 year-olds. TGI Movements offered vaccines and education at open mic nights, a fashion show where all of the clothes have been designed by local youths, and at a youth-led ceremony to commemorate people lost during COVID — both to the disease and increased gun violence. The key to their outreach is that their events are designed by youth in their program – this means young people are directly involved in conceiving ways to engage their peers and prepared to answer questions about vaccination at events.

To combat low vaccination rates among Chicago students, South Shore Works formed a youth vaccine outreach team to go door-to-door and convince people to get the vaccine. The organization has distributed food and masks throughout the pandemic and held several successful vaccine events at the South Shore Cultural Center, grocery stores and back to school events.

GAP Community Center hosts a popular food pantry and after school programs that served 1,500 people per week during the height of the pandemic. On the border of the city’s Black and Latino neighborhood, they partnered with pastors from both communities to serve as vaccine ambassadors and put on large scale vaccination events.

Read coverage of their work here.

Future Ties was started by Chicago Police Officer Jennifer Maddox to provide a safe place for the young people she saw on her beat in West Woodlawn. Over the past 11 years, Jennifer converted a space in a basement of the Parkway Gardens Apartments housing complex into an afterschool program where kids could get help with homework and life skills.​ Future Ties was able to reach families about vaccines because of the trust they built over a year of helping people navigate the pandemic. They paired book bag give-aways with opportunities to get vaccinated and phone-banked all of the families in their program to inform them about vaccine opportunities.