Authored by Carlene Pavlos, Sandro Galea, and Cheryl Bartlett
“We appreciate the immense challenges facing our state policymakers. What they – and we – face is unprecedented and overwhelming. There is no playbook. Assistance and leadership from the federal government has been limited, late, and inconsistent, at best.
Even as we recognize these challenges, we are disappointed that the state’s response does not embed equity at its heart. There is, as of now, far less than we should expect in the way of clear plans, guidance, or resources that are targeted to protecting communities that already experience marginalization.
Two weeks ago, we announced urgent policy recommendations from the Emergency Task Force on Coronavirus & Equity – recommendations supported now by more than 150 Massachusetts organizations – designed to ensure communities experiencing the effects of racism, poverty, and xenophobia aren’t put at even greater risk during the outbreak. There has been some progress on these recommendations, but none have been fully implemented.”
Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels.
Read the full piece on CommonWealth Magazine