COVID-19 has exacted a devastating toll on this nation, especially in communities of color and low-income communities. Prior to COVID-19, and in Connecticut, many in these communities were faced with disproportionately high levels of low-wage work, underemployment and unemployment, economic instability, food insecurity, exposure to environmental pollution, co-morbidities and persistent stressors upon health. In 2021, these harsh truths are alarmingly glaring.

In 2019, the Urban League of Southern Connecticut, in partnership with Quinnipiac University, produced State of Urban Connecticut, an evidenced-based report that examined the impact of education, employment, income, affordable housing, health disparities and other issues on the quality of living for urban Connecticut residents. It found significant gaps between communities of color and low-income communities in comparison to white communities. From under-funded and under-resourced inner city schools with yawning opportunity gaps, the proliferation of low-wage, less stable work with few to no benefits, widening income and wealth gaps, lack of housing that is affordable and safe to poorer health outcomes made worse by limited or no health insurance and limited or no health care services. These issues have resulted in a series of crises in these communities which have persisted for decades and which are largely ignored or not addressed. A common theme that is expressed in the report is the need for access to resources, services and opportunities and, the deployment of these assets in ways that promote cultural awareness and equity. This was before COVID-19 became a pandemic and brought with it an economic crisis, re-shaping the way that we live.

The United States has the unenviable distinction of being the world leader in infections and deaths due to COVID-19. Not surprisingly, communities of color and low-income communities have been the hardest hit because of significant levels of vulnerability that result, in part, from social determinants of health that are structurally based. This includes front-line work requiring interaction with the public and no telework options, dependence on public transportation, limited ability to practice physical distancing at work or at home and co- morbidities.

And now, as the nation seems to be positioned to finally manage COVID-19, the need for targeted and sustained efforts at the federal, state and local levels to reduce and eliminate systemic issues that specifically and adversely impact communities of color and low-income communities could not be higher. It is an opportunity to address long-standing issues and empower communities that have so much to offer to this nation and the world. In so doing, America’s motto, E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one,” might finally be exalted in ways that include more diverse communities so that the past does not continue to be prologue.

Robert M. Brown III, Ph.D. is a medical sociologist and adjunct professor at Western Connecticut State University whose work focuses on the social determinants of health, COVID-19, economic empowerment and advocating for social justice issues.