FRIENDS AND FAMILY CAMPAIGN

11/19/2021


As we move into the fall and winter, we'll see our friends and families on special occasions. Our "Friends and Family" Campaign shares tools on how to keep encouraging vaccine confidence in non-judgmental ways. Ask a friend or a family member that you may have who is in a local community or civic group and reach out together to listen to any questions or concerns and share information in a kind way. This campaign has community organizing tips, ready to use sample presentations and newsletter articles, and plain language information on vaccinations and boosters.


Our "Friends and Family" Campaign is a way to connect with local community members who you may not have reached yet or wish you knew better. If everyone just reached out to one new community group, imagine how many conversations we'd have! To learn more and to check out the campaign tools, visit https://nationalcenterdph.org/vaccine-resources/. Won't you join us?

Local COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Kicks Off

AUCD was recently awarded a grant from CDC's vaccine task force to conduct local COVID-19 vaccine outreach. This project collects and shares strategies for local vaccine outreach on COVID-19 through a national learning community, as well as provides technical assistance for a variety of disability community partners that have a local presence through chapters or affiliates. Nine disability community organizational partners are collaborating on this local outreach, including: 1. The Arc, 2.  Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) (working together for this effort), 3. National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), 4. National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), 5. American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), 6. Autism Society, 7. Family Voices, 8. Spina Bifida Association and 9. Autism Speaks. There are also six AUCD Regional Hubs collaborating at a regional level to conduct vaccination outreach in areas with lower vaccine up take, including: University of Indiana (Focus Region 5), University of Kentucky and Ga State working collaboratively in the Southeast, University Montana (Focus Region 8 and rural areas), UCLA (Focus Region: PacWest Trainees), and University of Minnesota (Focus Region: DSPs). A robust group of Trainees and Training Directors are also collaborating on local vaccine outreach in AZ, CT, CO, GA, OK, and MN.

The public health team is excited to welcome Holly Hohmeister, our project consultant for our new local vaccine confidence outreach project. Holly will be managing the day-to-day coordination of our disability partner organizations, Regional Hubs, and trainees, as well as facilitating the national learning community. We're also excited to welcome Sherice Smith, our membership and marketing manager, and Steph Ban, our communications assistant. Sherice and Steph will both be working on the local vaccine confidence outreach project and will sit on both the communications and public health teams to facilitate rapid dissemination.

To stay in the know on this and other projects of AUCD's National Center on Disability in Public Health, subscribe to our Inclusive Public Health Quarterly newsletter or visit our vaccine confidence project