5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet
-
0:01 - 0:03Good evening.
-
0:03 - 0:06It is such a blessing to work
at the Harlem Children's Zone, -
0:06 - 0:10an African-American-led organization
that has pioneered the field -
0:10 - 0:14of comprehensive place-based services,
from cradle to career. -
0:14 - 0:17And that word, "comprehensive,"
is so key to what we do. -
0:18 - 0:20You know, most interventions
focus on one piece -
0:20 - 0:22of a complicated, giant puzzle.
-
0:22 - 0:25But that's not enough to solve the puzzle.
-
0:25 - 0:28You don't solve education
without understanding the home context -
0:28 - 0:31or the home environment
of our young scholar. -
0:31 - 0:35Or the broader context of health,
nutrition or criminal justice. -
0:36 - 0:39The unit of change for us
is not the individual child, -
0:39 - 0:41it's the entire neighborhood.
-
0:41 - 0:44You have to do multiple things
at the same time. -
0:45 - 0:48And we have 20 years of data
to prove that this works. -
0:48 - 0:51We've had 7,000 graduates
of our baby college, -
0:51 - 0:55we've eliminated the Black-white
achievement gap in our schools. -
0:55 - 0:58We've reduced obesity rates
in our health programs -
0:58 - 1:01and have close to 1,000 students
enrolled in college. -
1:02 - 1:05We weave together
a net of services so tightly, -
1:05 - 1:07so that no one will fall
through the cracks. -
1:08 - 1:10And we've inspired global practitioners.
-
1:10 - 1:13We've had over 500-plus
communities across the US -
1:14 - 1:15and 70-plus countries
-
1:15 - 1:17come and visit us to learn our model.
-
1:18 - 1:21You see, the problems of the globe,
and the problems of the world -
1:21 - 1:24are not neatly siloed into buckets.
-
1:25 - 1:27So therefore the solutions
must be comprehensive, -
1:27 - 1:29they must be holistic.
-
1:29 - 1:32And now we're in the midst
of a global pandemic. -
1:33 - 1:37COVID-19 has revealed to us
what we always knew to be true. -
1:37 - 1:42The poorest among us pay the highest price
with their lives and their livelihood. -
1:42 - 1:47And that's playing out every day
in the African American community, -
1:47 - 1:50where we're 3.6 times
more likely to die of COVID -
1:50 - 1:51than our white counterparts.
-
1:52 - 1:55We're seeing those health disparities
on the ground in New York City, -
1:55 - 1:57our nation's epicenter.
-
1:57 - 2:00And to compound the impact
of the health disparities, -
2:00 - 2:03there's significant economic devastation,
-
2:03 - 2:05where one in four
of our families in Harlem -
2:05 - 2:06report food insecurity,
-
2:06 - 2:11and 57 percent report a loss of income
or a loss of their job. -
2:12 - 2:16But to better understand the work
of the Harlem Children's Zone, -
2:16 - 2:17I want to share a story with you,
-
2:17 - 2:19about a second-grade scholar named Sean.
-
2:21 - 2:22Sean is a beautiful Black boy
-
2:22 - 2:26whose smile would light up
any room that he's in. -
2:27 - 2:29And when quarantine began in March,
-
2:29 - 2:32we noticed that Sean
wasn't attending virtual school. -
2:32 - 2:34And after some investigation,
-
2:34 - 2:38we've come to learn that Sean's mom
was hospitalized due to COVID. -
2:38 - 2:42So he was at home
with grandma and his baby sibling, -
2:42 - 2:44who was his only viable support system,
-
2:44 - 2:46since Sean's father is incarcerated.
-
2:47 - 2:48Grandma was struggling.
-
2:48 - 2:50There wasn't much food in the household,
-
2:50 - 2:52limited diapers,
-
2:52 - 2:54and Sean didn't even have a computer.
-
2:55 - 2:57When mom was released from the hospital,
-
2:57 - 2:59their challenges deepened,
-
2:59 - 3:01because they could no longer
stay with grandma, -
3:01 - 3:03due to her preexisting health conditions.
-
3:03 - 3:07So Sean, his baby sibling and his mom
had to go to a shelter. -
3:09 - 3:12Sean's story is not atypical
at the Harlem Children's Zone. -
3:12 - 3:16We know Sean and millions like him
all across the country -
3:16 - 3:19deserve to have everything
that this world has to offer, -
3:19 - 3:22without inequality
robbing them of that opportunity. -
3:23 - 3:24All the result of racism
-
3:24 - 3:27and historical and systemic
underinvestment -
3:27 - 3:30are now compounded by COVID-19.
-
3:31 - 3:33Our comprehensive model
-
3:33 - 3:36uniquely positions the Harlem
Children's Zone in the fight of COVID. -
3:37 - 3:39The success that we have
on the ground in Harlem -
3:39 - 3:41makes it imperative,
-
3:41 - 3:44and it is our responsibility
to share what we know works -
3:44 - 3:45with the country.
-
3:45 - 3:51We have developed a comprehensive
COVID-19 relief and recovery response -
3:51 - 3:52for our community,
-
3:52 - 3:54that was surfaced from our community,
-
3:54 - 3:58focused on five primary areas of need,
-
3:58 - 4:00and already servicing
families like Sean's. -
4:01 - 4:02They are the following.
-
4:03 - 4:05One, emergency relief funds.
-
4:05 - 4:09We know that our families need cash
in their hands right now. -
4:10 - 4:12Two, protecting our most vulnerable.
-
4:12 - 4:16We know our families need access
to essential goods and information. -
4:16 - 4:19So that is food, that's masks,
-
4:19 - 4:22that's a curated resource list
and public health campaigns. -
4:23 - 4:26Three, bridging the digital divide.
-
4:26 - 4:29We believe that internet
is a fundamental right. -
4:29 - 4:32So we need to ensure
our families have connectivity, -
4:32 - 4:34and also all school-age
children in a household -
4:34 - 4:36have the proper learning devices.
-
4:37 - 4:39Four, zero learning loss.
-
4:39 - 4:42We know that there's a generation
of students at risk -
4:42 - 4:44of losing an entire year
of their education. -
4:45 - 4:49We need to make sure that we are providing
high-quality virtual programing, -
4:49 - 4:53in addition to having safe
reentry planned for school reentry. -
4:54 - 4:57And five, mitigating
the mental health crisis. -
4:57 - 4:59There's a generation at risk
of having PTSD, -
4:59 - 5:02due to the massive amounts
of toxic stress. -
5:02 - 5:05We need to ensure that our families
have access to telehealth -
5:05 - 5:07and other virtual supports.
-
5:08 - 5:13We have six amazing partners
across six cities in the United States -
5:13 - 5:17that are adopting our model
for their own context in their community. -
5:17 - 5:20They are Oakland, Minneapolis,
-
5:20 - 5:24Chicago, Detroit, Newark and Atlanta.
-
5:24 - 5:28In addition to those partners,
we have three national partners, -
5:28 - 5:31who will be sharing our model
and sharing our strategies -
5:31 - 5:32through their network,
-
5:32 - 5:36in addition to amplifying our impact
by policy advocacy. -
5:37 - 5:39We will have impact on three levels.
-
5:40 - 5:43Individual impact on the ground in Harlem,
-
5:43 - 5:46across a number of outcomes in education,
-
5:46 - 5:47in health, in economics,
-
5:47 - 5:49reaching 30,000 people.
-
5:50 - 5:53There's community-level impact
across six cities, -
5:54 - 5:56again through our amazing partners,
-
5:56 - 5:58that will reach an additional
70,000 people. -
5:59 - 6:00And then national impact,
-
6:00 - 6:02not only through policy advocacy,
-
6:02 - 6:04but through capacity building at scale.
-
6:06 - 6:08Our answer to COVID-19,
-
6:08 - 6:11the despair and inequities
plaguing our communities, -
6:11 - 6:14is targeting neighborhoods
with comprehensive services. -
6:15 - 6:17We have certainly not lost hope.
-
6:17 - 6:20And we invite you to join us
on the front lines of this war. -
6:21 - 6:22Thank you.
- Title:
- 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet
- Speaker:
- Kwame Owusu-Kesse
- Description:
-
Crisis interventions often focus on a single aspect of a big, complicated problem, failing to address the broader social and economic context. Kwame Owusu-Kesse describes how the Harlem Children's Zone is taking a more holistic approach to the pandemic, weaving together a network of services to help communities recover and rebuild. Learn more about their comprehensive COVID-19 relief and recovery response focused on five primary areas of need -- and their plans to scale it across the US. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 06:36
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet |