Concerned that three months would not be enough time to train and effectively deploy 100 community health care workers in the neighborhoods with the highest number of Covid-19 cases, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved a six-month outreach and education program at a cost of nearly $5 million to begin in January. This is the biggest thing that we have ever been charged with doing and if we donât step forth in a strong resolute way, I donât think we are going to succeed, Supervisor Mary Adams said in the lead-up to the 5-0 vote. I think we have to make our mark, she said. Weâll probably be known as the first county to ever fully jump in and invest our dollars at the core. It will be lasting.
With a sense of urgency to combat Covid-19 among the Latino neighborhoods where the virus has wreaked the most havoc, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors scheduled a special meeting for noon on Monday, Dec. 21, to consider a nearly $2.3 million pilot program to employ community health workers beginning Jan. 1.Â
Those workers would help educate families, as well as connect people who are tested with needed services, such as temporary housing for quarantine or isolation, cash assistance, food, medical care and information about employment rights.
promotores, trusted people from community-based organizations to reach out to people who may not know what services are available, or in the case of undocumented workers, are too afraid to come forward.