Funded By: Rice University's Building Research on Inequality and Diversity to Grow Equity (BRIDGE) initiative
Topic Areas: Race; Medicine
Religious communities are primary purveyors of social services in at-risk populations (particularly in largely black and Latinx communities), yet little is known about how they respond to public health crises. This project explores the role of Houston-based religious organizations serving at-risk communities in the fight against COVID-19 and supporting (or resisting) public health guidance.
The study analyzes the content of online messaging from 10 religious communities in response to COVID-19 (including four predominantly black churches, four predominantly Latinx churches, one synagogue, and one mosque all located in or around Houston's poorest geographic areas), and collected interview data with religious leaders from these organizations about their congregational responses.
From this data collection in the immediate short-term, a brief will be generated that will be shared with religious, governmental, and other community leaders (such as public health workers) and the findings incorporated into an op-ed about religious responses to COVID-19. Long-term, the data will assist religious communities in providing resources to alleviate collateral effects (economic and social) of the virus.