Oshkosh DEI committee urges clearer vaccine outreach to reach immigrant and limited-English communities

The Oshkosh City Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee spent an extended portion of its meeting discussing how to improve COVID-19 vaccination outreach to populations that may not receive or trust mainstream public-health messaging.

Committee members raised gaps that affect immigrant and refugee groups, people with limited English proficiency and those who rely on social networks such as WhatsApp for news. Several members described how trusted local messengers — faith leaders, clinicians who speak community languages, and community organizations — can bridge those gaps if the city and public-health agencies coordinate outreach.

Ashley Hess, a committee member, said consistency and frequency of messaging matters and asked how the city can participate in advising or supporting outreach. Jabad Ahmad and Umair Ahmed, the Ahmadiyya presenters, described a centralized leadership structure in their community that allowed rapid, consistent internal communication, and they said their mosque distributed sanitizer and arranged member support during the pandemic.

Mayor Lori Palmeri and John Fitzpatrick, Director of Administrative Services, explained the city does not house a standalone health department; Winnebago County Public Health is the operational hub for vaccine planning and distribution. Fitzpatrick said the city is coordinating with the county and offered to bring committee members’ concerns to an upcoming county meeting.

The group identified practical communication steps: adding a highlighted link to EndTheRona.com (a national site aggregating vaccine availability and scheduling information) on the city COVID page, sharing translated materials through the city website’s Google Translate feature and enlisting community partners to host vaccine information and events. Beth Roberts, a committee member who works with county public-health contacts, recommended the EndTheRona.com registration tool as an individual-facing resource.

Committee members also suggested the county communications coordinator attend a committee meeting to explain the county’s outreach plans and to hear the committee’s suggestions about reaching specific populations. Members agreed to invite that county communications staffer and to compile a list of community groups and faith leaders who could serve as outreach partners.

No formal policy was adopted; committee members tasked staff to pursue coordination with Winnebago County Public Health and to invite the county communications coordinator to speak at a future meeting.