HoCo RISE Collaborative Report Released On One-Year Anniversary

Columbia MD

15 March, 2021

2:59 PM

Description

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Officials marked the one-year anniversary of Howard County's first COVID-19 case and released the HoCo RISE Collaborative Report, outlining recommendations and a path forward for continued response and recovery from the pandemic. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball launched the collaborative in November 2020 and charged the 50 members to provide key recommendations in five areas: public health response, government response, jobs and the economy, education and workforce, and family opportunities. "The devastation, loss and trauma, from this pandemic will reverberate through generations," Ball said at a news conference. "With all the challenges of the past year, we know that this moment calls for reflection, and to find the opportunities to improve and move forward stronger, together. Stakeholders from around our county met my ambitious goal to produce recommendations for these areas in 100 working days. Thank you to former County Executive Ken Ulman, our workgroup chairs, members and all our staff who dedicated their time to this vital report. I'm positive that by working together, we will rise." The collaborative's stakeholders, who provided immediate response suggestions and recommendations for the long-term. The completed report includes an overview of the coronavirus pandemic in Howard County and recommendations based on the current outlook. "Our recommendations center on steps that the county can take to increase vaccine acceptance, with particular emphasis in communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19," Elizabeth Kromm, vice president of population health and advancement at Howard County General Hospital and public health response workgroup chair, said. "Key recommendations are already being implemented - the communication steering committee is already up and running, and outreach efforts are underway to these communities. COVID has shown us many things, including the importance of a strong public health infrastructure and a well-equipped local health department." Top 15 recommendations of the collaborative public health response are: 1. Establish a COVID-19 vaccine communications steering committee 2. Create and implement a vaccine equity outreach plan. 3. Recruit trust brokers and other key endorsers, provide training and necessary supports and manage to outcomes for vaccine outreach. Government response 4. Implement a digital visitor system. 5. Reduce fleet footprint to accommodate telework for the long-term. 6. Incorporate softphones to all county employees' computers to enable enhanced remote business. Jobs and the economy 7. Modernize and streamline government processes that ensures that the county remains business friendly. 8. Establish an "opt-in" text message alert system for businesses to receive important information regarding any new changes with the county that may significantly affect their organizations. 9. Establish more applications (apps) that connect residents to local businesses. Education and workforce 10. Collaborate across industry sectors to generate an inventory of available training programs to identify gaps, duplications and opportunities. 11. Leveraging industry data, retrain individuals who lost their jobs during the pandemic into new occupations. 12. Evaluate post-COVID-19 data to expand a pipeline for community college/career school training and workforce system in emerging areas of occupational need. Family opportunities 13. Create a one source landing page/flier translated into multiple languages for resources that contain food service location, times, and types of food to assist families. 14. Provide targeted support and incentives to close the digital divide and create a new long-term roadmap to meaningfully increase digital inclusion in Howard County. 15. Increase additional forms of transportation to vaccine clinics for those with significant barriers To read the full report, click here.