2021 Annual Report
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Thank you for a Great 2021
Thank you for a great 2021! We cannot do it without you.
We wish you many blessings in 2022.
Thank you for your help and support in 2021. The Neighborhood Resilience Project has served thousands of our brothers and sisters in need this year, which is only possible by your help and support.
We are looking forward to serving more brothers and sisters in need and growing the organization programs and services.
Big things to come in 2022 for the Neighborhood Resilience Project!
1,200+ Vaccines
During the first two weeks of February, the Neighborhood Resilience Project facilitated COVID-19 vaccine distribution events in which more than 1,200 community members received the vaccine.
The Neighborhood Resilience Project mobilized Community Health Deputies and Staff Members to recruit, register and facilitate the process of vaccination of these 1,200+ Community Members during the first two weeks of February. This vaccine distribution was made possible with the support of the Allegheny County Health Department, UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh and Macedonia Face.
We will continue to work diligently to stay in touch with those vaccinated to ensure their second dose is received.
It is the hope of the organization that more clinics of this nature will be available in the future.
We are grateful for all those who worked so diligently to make this clinic possible.
Sincerely,
Rev. Paul T. Abernathy
CEO
Neighborhood Resilience Project
Neighborhood Resilience Project in the New York Times
The Neighborhood Resilience Project in the New York Times!
The work of the Neighborhood Resilience Project with the Community Health Deputies, around COVID-19 and the Vaccine Registry was highlighted in the New York Times this morning! Read the article here.
The Neighborhood Resilience Project has trained, deployed and are supporting over 100 Community Health Deputies across 15 Medically Under-served Communities in the area. These deputies have accomplished tremendous feats out in the community.
The Community Health Deputies have also been working diligently to register people for the Vaccine Registry in Pittsburgh – as Pittsburgh is a location where the 3rd Phase of Clinical Trails for COVID-19 are being offered. Because of the work of the Community Health Deputies, the diversity of the people registered for the Vaccine Registry has greatly increased.
Please help us share the good work of the ministry.
Sincerely,
Fr. Paul Abernathy
CEO
Neighborhood Resilience Project
Day of Giving 2020
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We are Combatting COVID-19.
In this time of crisis, the Neighborhood Resilience Project is working to build resilience in our community as we address COVID-19 crisis. Several ways we are working to combat the virus and mitigate the economic impact for people during this time are below:
- We have launched a Community Health Deputy Initiative. We are working to establish Community Health Deputies in medically underserved communities across Allegheny County. These deputies have three objectives:
- To be trained in the epidemiological frame work to combat the spread of the disease (to include screening for symptoms of and exposure to COVID-19).
- To understand and respond to the needs of the people, including but not limited to food and medicine.
- To assess and support the mental health of people in this time of crisis.
The organization has trained 118 Community Health Deputies and has 102 that are active across 15 communities in the Pittsburgh region. Through the labors of the Community Health Deputies, much work has been accomplished in these 15 communities as highlighted in the table below. These deputies will enable the organization to quickly reach, connect with and disseminate information to community members and stakeholders to build the task force and begin to address health equity in this area. Consulting with Health Deputies was how the organization began to discern that mental health is a great need within the community.
| Packages of food and emergency services distributed – 8,188 Cases of interrupting the transmission of COVID-19 – 564 Activities to support the prevention of future spread of COVID-19 – 5,123 Instances of working to change community norms to promote less spread of COVID-19 – 247 Offerings of therapeutic interactions to community members- 740 |
- We have been performing Telephonic Wellness Checks. These check ups are conducted from one of our staff members or volunteers to community members who are either 60+ or who have serious underlying health issues that place them in the high risk for contracting COVID-19. During these checks, the staff and volunteers are evaluating the following:
- Assessing for signs and symptoms of and exposure to COVID-19.
- Screening for needs again such as food and medicine.
- Checking on the Mental Health of the community member.
- We have moved health center operations to Telemedicine. We are continuing to administer health care to hundreds of uninsured patients with our amazing volunteer clinicians and telemedicine. Our patients will therefore still get the care needed for their existing conditions, care for any new presenting illnesses as well as care for other needed supports. The Clinic operations have since moved to a combination of in person visits – following the COVID protocol and telemedicine visits.
- Finally, we are providing Food. We have seen a large increase in people needing food. Any canned or non-perishable items are gratefully accepted (Pop Top Cans or Can Openers are always appreciated). The numbers of people coming to get food increases each day.
If you are interested in learning more about supporting one of these initiatives to combat COVID-19 and its economic impact in our community, please contact us at info@neighborhoodresilience.org.
Together we shall overcome!
Sincerely,
Rev. Paul T. Abernathy, CEO
The First Micro-Community
The probing for the first micro-community intervention of the Neighborhood Resilience Project including strength findings such as leadership, relationship and proximity to the organization, the willingness of the influencers within the micro-community to participate and finally an early adopters spirit. Unlike the subsequent micro-communities who saw the impact within the first intervention and then wanted to participate, the first micro-community needed to trust the project was going to work and trust the organization was going to follow through.
After one micro-community member hosted an in-home meeting to rally her neighbors around the project, the micro-community soon had 75% of their neighbors on board to participate and began to move forward in planning their own Consultative Workshop. The neighbors showed a great sense of commitment to improving their micro-community by ensuring the event was well-attended and created an open space for sharing their thoughts, ideas and insights about how to improve life within their micro-community. This workshop was the start of this micro-community building a supportive network among each other as a first step in building their resilience.
From there, plan were created out of the ideas generated at the Consultative Workshop. Because this plan was generated by the micro-community members themselves, the plan was a first step in creating competency. That sense of competency is another earmark of creating resilience. The next step in creating competency among the members of the micro-community, is to then build leaders among the micro-community. The people who served in these roles for the first micro-community worked diligently with their neighbors to fulfill and complete their plan.
By working through their plans – both collectively and individually, the micro-community created a culture of self-care, which also helps to build resilience. The self-care for the micro-community members included a wide variety of items, such as getting a flu shot for the first time, having a primary care exam each year, getting an eye and dental exam, providing food for neighbors after surgeries or the loss of family members, calling on birthdays, helping each other keep the micro-community clean and free of trash and also working diligently to ensure those within the micro-community were akin to this new culture.
The final piece of resilience building is coping strategies. By building a supportive network, a sense of competence and a self care routine, the members of the micro-community were thus also building their coping strategies toolkit.