COVID-19 Impacts Project

Immigrant communities in St. Louis face unique challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID- 19 and subsequent response measures have specific impacts in terms of immigrants’ health, safety, income, families, communities, and access to basic needs. Moreover, immigrants may face specific barriers to accessing information, services, and other support needs arising from COVID-19 and local response measures such as “stay at home” orders. Many of these challenges are linked to community members’ immigration status in combination with other factors (eg, gender, sexual orientation, age, employment, language proficiency, access to healthcare).

A multi-disciplinary research team at Washington University is collaborating with the Immigrant Service Providers Network (ISPN) to understand and address the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent response on St. Louis’ immigrant community and service providers. Research findings will contribute to both policymaking and community-level service provision. Findings may also guide the development of materials and resources to address information gaps and other needs identified by the immigrant and service provider communities. The team will develop communication and dissemination strategies to support immigrants’ access to important information and needed services, as well as to support ISPN and service providers’ strategic priorities during the COVID-19 response.