Identifying Community Needs to Promote Health Equity

Client

Dalberg / City of NY Economic Development Corp.

Problem / Question

One year after COVID forced a city-wide lockdown, the Mayor called for the creation of a Pandemic Response Institute to respond more rapidly in addressing future health threats. The overarching goal was to hear from residents representing neighborhoods hard hit and to find out how could NYC improve health equity, especially during epidemics.

Public Good Consulting was brought in by Dalberg through a contract with NYC Economic Development Corporation to facilitate and lead focus groups and interviews with residents throughout NYC to identify specific interventions that worked well and what was needed.

Outcomes

Our targeted outreach leveraged on the ground and leadership relationships throughout the City’s social service and community-based ecosystems, helping to generate participation in focus groups and interviews in a short period of time. Results were analyzed into five themes and added to the larger report’s recommendations creating the the City’s first public preparedness and recovery center which launched in 2022.