• by Colin Kirkland , October 6, 2021

“Inform Unite Heal” is the National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc.’s new COVID-10 Awareness Campaign, which targets Black communities to counter misinformation and spread awareness of how the pandemic affects Black lives in particular.

According to the CDC, “race and ethnicity are risk markers for other underlying conditions that affect health, including socioeconomic status, access to health care, and exposure to the virus related to occupation.”

Black Americans are 2.8 times more likely to be hospitalized, 2 times more likely to die, and 1.1 times more likely to be infected by COVID-19 compared to White, Non-Hispanic people.

"The Inform Unite Heal campaign is a cultural storytelling initiative used to inform communities about the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black America,” said Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, founder of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, in a recent statement. “It encourages personal storytelling, taking action through spreading awareness, and information on how to support family, friends, and local communities. Through our collective efforts to inform and take action, we hope to protect Black communities from the current harms and support efforts to heal and grow.”

Black content creators make up the majority of those participating in the campaign. These bloggers and micro-influencers will be sharing stories about their lives during COVID-19. 

More specifically, they will discuss financial hardships that occurred due to the pandemic, being immunocompromised, protecting their family members, why they chose to get vaccinated, recovery from the virus, and other COVID-19-related subjects. 

All stories will be followed by #InformUniteHeal. 

Some of the story titles include:

“Nicki Minaj, Vaccine Hesitancy, and Misinformation: What we can learn from her story”

“I’m a Black traveler, Here’s why I choose to be vaccinated”

“I had COVID-19 with my niece and nephew: This is my story”

In addition, The National Black Cultural Information Trust has compiled information and resources to help Black communities survive the ongoing pandemic. The campaign is providing protective essentials to schools in predominantly Black communities.