KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Area Urban League is getting a $1.4 million grant to hire people to boost vaccine outreach and education, CEO Phyllis Nichols announced Wednesday at the annual membership luncheon.
Knoxville is among several other league chapters in the country getting grants from the National Urban League. Others receiving the grant include the Urban League of Greater Kansas City and the Mississippi Urban League, Nichols said.
The money will go to hire "community health navigators" to do the fieldwork.
The goal is to build confidence, overcome vaccine hesitancy and raise the numbers of people in underserved communities getting vaccines, Nichols said.
"We are thrilled about that," she told Wednesday's audience.
In Kansas City, the league affiliate last week said it would hire navigators "who will connect individuals to COVID-19 vaccine education and opportunities with the goal of increasing health equity and literacy." They plan to train the navigators, who will be hired for six to eight months, and give them the support they need to "carry out vaccine outreach and education to their communities."
The area league held its annual luncheon gathering at the Knoxville Convention Center downtown to encourage membership and update members on activities. It's the first time in recent years they've been able to hold the luncheon in person, Nichols said, because of the pandemic.
Former Gov. Bill Haslam was the keynote speaker. Nichols praised Haslam as a lifelong supporter of the league and its work.
Haslam, a former two-term Knoxville mayor, addressed a frank problem in U.S. society today: The wide division along political lines among Americans. It's gotten so wide that people aren't giving themselves the chance to hear the other side, said Haslam.
We're not trying to resolve our differences and engage in problem-solving, he said. Too many people are throwing up their hands in frustration.
"This is not a game," he said. "This stuff really matters."
The U.S. has always been great at finding ways to fix problems, to invent its way out of a jam. Right now, however, too many of us are more inclined just to "vent," he said.
Haslam recalled the late Howard Baker Jr., former Tennessee senator and chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan. Baker had a reputation as a listener and a leader willing to find the middle ground.
"Always remember that the other fellow might be right," Baker used to say, Haslam observed.
The goal is to get to the best answer, Haslam said. We as a society need to elect those who are the best at solving problems, not those who have the best rhetoric, he said.
