St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund

Orange County Community Resilience Fund Evaluation Report 11 than doubled compared to last year, with those calls now prioritizing food (housing was previously the highest request). Table 2 reflects the percentage increase in calls to 2-1-1 in May-July 2020 compared to 2019. This increase in need is being driven by two sources. People who were already using the safety net now have a more acute need for these emergency supplies. In addition, a substantial new swath of clients is seeking support. This group was doing fine before the pandemic hit, but have now been pushed into vulnerability. Many of these people have never used this system before and do not know how to navigate it. This exacerbates their challenge in the short term, as they may not be getting needed services. This population is particularly susceptible to the misinformation, disinformation, and scams that have arisen since the pandemic started. One positive change that has helped all people seeking services has been that the Orange County Social Services Agency has allowed enrollment for services such as CalFresh and CalOptima to be done remotely; previously in-person enrollment was required. Health Concerns COVID-19 has had a strong negative effect on the health of our communities, in several different ways. First of all, the impacts of COVID-19 itself are severe and continuing to spread. As of August 26 according to official numbers from the Health Care Agency, Orange County had 47,090 confirmed cases and 918 deaths. As is the case nationally, people of color suffer a disproportionate number of these cases. Of the cases, at least 56% were Hispanic/Latino; only 35% of the overall county population is Hispanic/Latino. 5 At least 36% of the deaths are Hispanic/Latino individuals; considering that the Latino population of the county skews younger and the general mortality rate for older individuals is much higher, this may still be evidence of health inequity. Santa Ana and Anaheim, with largely Latino and lower-income population, have borne 37% of the cases with only 21% of the population. There is also a shortage of in-language materials on COVID-19, meaning some immigrant communities may not have accurate information. As many immigrant communities of Orange County may live in multigenerational housing, the threat of a younger person bringing home COVID to a vulnerable senior lives large. Furthermore, undocumented immigrants may not have insurance to pay for testing and fear the contact tracing a positive diagnosis 5 Calculation of data by race/ethnicity is complicated the large number of cases being listed as "unknown" or "other" in official HCA records; these were excluded from the calculation.

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