- Adkins-Jackson, Paris B;
- Vázquez, Evelyn;
- Henry-Ala, Frank K;
- Ison, Juliana M;
- Cheney, Ann;
- Akingbulu, Josephine;
- Starks, Christian;
- Slay, Lindsay;
- Dorsey, Alexander;
- Marmolejo, Connie;
- Stafford, Alvin;
- Wen, James;
- McCauley, Margaret H;
- Summers, Latrese;
- Bermudez, Llendy;
- Cruz-Roman, Zitlaly L;
- Castillo, Itzel;
- Kipke, Michele D;
- Brown, Arleen F;
- Workgroup, The STOP COVID-19 CA Vaccine Hesitancy
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the adverse influence of structural racism and discrimination experienced by historically marginalized communities (e.g., Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and transgender people). Structural racism contributes to trauma-induced health behaviors, increasing exposure to COVID-19 and restricting access to testing and vaccination. This intersection of multiple disadvantages has a negative impact on the mental health of these communities, and interventions addressing collective healing are needed in general and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Share, Trust, Organize, and Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), a statewide collaborative of 11 universities and 75 community partners, includes several workgroups to address gaps in COVID-19 information, vaccine trial participation, and access. One of these workgroups, the Vaccine Hesitancy Workgroup, adopted an anti-racist community-partnered praxis to implement restorative circles in historically marginalized communities to facilitate collective healing due to structural racism and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project resulted in the development of a multilevel pre-intervention restorative process to build or strengthen community-institutional partnerships when procurement of funds has been sought prior to community partnership. This article discusses this workgroup's role in advancing health justice by providing a community-based mental health intervention to marginalized communities in Southern California while using an antiracist praxis tool to develop a successful community-institutional partnership and to live up to the vision of community-based participatory research.