Equity Lab: $6 million for unnecessary air filters + Kershawn Geyger + Vaccine distribution

Orizo Hajigurban
·3 min read

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Dear Sacramentans,

It’s Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, and this is The Equity Lab newsletter.

Last week, The Equity Lab team hosted a closed listening session with 16 community and health advocates. We sought to understand the biggest barriers to an equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. In our hourlong conversation, there were 5 themes that stuck out:

  1. For equitable distribution, we must meet people where they are at.

  2. Vaccine plans must consider and bridge language and income barriers.

  3. In most cases, it’s the lack of information that breeds hoax and fear. Information must be accessible digitally and in the languages of our region.

  4. The county must bring in trusted, albeit unconventional, community leaders to back vaccine efforts.

  5. The consequences of delayed herd immunity must be made clear.

It’s been said in the last year that the virus has revealed and deepened chasms of disparity. Advocates said the vaccine rollout will be one of the defining tests for how equitable life and recovery post-pandemic will be in Sacramento. Our team is committed to tracking the county’s efforts to reach low-income and Black and brown communities.

Read the full story here.

The Equity Lab is a community-funded journalism team that explores issues of equity, wealth, race, power and justice in the region. You can count on us to find the stories that can only be told in Sacramento.

4 things you need to know this week

  • Did you know? Sac City schools paid $6 million for costly air cleaners with unnecessary features: Sacramento City Unified School District purchased more than $6 million worth of classroom air cleaners and replacement parts in November, at a cost of $688 per device. But several experts say the air cleaners that Sacramento City schools purchased are overpriced, inefficient and have unnecessary and unproven technology.

  • At just 23 years old, Amanda Gorman made history by becoming the youngest of history’s six inaugural poets: Watch our interview with Sacramento native Bertha Gorman as she expresses how proud she was to watch her granddaughter shine doing “what she loves and something that she does so very well.”

  • Domestic violence in California is being treated as a family issue when in reality it affects more than those involved: Last week, reporter Cathie Anderson wrote about how the efforts to curb domestic violence in California lack strategy and leadership.

  • Kershawn Geyger was killed by a Sacramento sheriff’s gang unit. There’s no video, and only a few answers: Watch as Geyger’s family and friends called for a press conference to seek answers after the incident.

What are your plans for Black History Month?

Are you or an organization you’re involved with planning Black History Month celebrations? Let us know here.

The Sacramento Bee Equity Lab wants to hear from and include your Black History Month events in our ongoing calendar, which will be featured on sacbee.com/equity-lab.

Stories we found interesting

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