More than one pandemic: how New York City community members fight against coronavirus and systematic oppression

ABSTRACT

Social workers and community organizers were amongst the first to respond to Black and Brown communities during the emergence COVID-19. The quick and strategic actions taken by Social workers and community organizers have helped to close the gap for marginalized Black and Brown communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grassroots online fundraising, referrals to legal services specializing in tenant’s rights, information on nearby food banks, jail support, mutual aid during social demonstrations, and invitations to social demonstrations targeted at dismantling systems of racism allowed for communities to survive. These quick and strategic actions present at least three implications for enhancing social work education. This article uses what the author has observed and experienced to summarize how social workers and community organizers were among the first to outreach to Black and Brown communities, and how they strategized and acted in ways to keep Black and Brown communities safe and economically stable while utilizing and creating new pathways to engage communities in the movement for social justice. This article concludes with a call to action in interrupting systems of racism by using skills and tools the author has utilized in organizing to enhance social work education.

KEYWORDS:

• Community organizing
• white supremacy
• education
• COVID-19
• New York City

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Dr. Fabienne Snowden and Joshua Hutchinson, MSW for their consistent support, time, and energy throughout the entire process of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miguel Rodriguez

Miguel Rodriguez is a 28 year-old Afro Latino-Filipino, Black, Bronx native. Miguel Rodriguez is currently a doctoral student at the CUNY Graduate Center in the Social Welfare program. Miguel Rodriguez is a trained community organizer and social worker in New York where he utilizing his skills in order to create the change that communities call for.