The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on Black people in Idaho in a major way. A local organization has found a way to support the marginalized community by giving out small grants to help people make it from day to day.
The Black Liberation Collective of Idaho launched the Black Mutual Aid Fund to provide financial assistance to Black families in need in the Gem State.
Alyssa Wainaina, the founder of BLCOI tells the news outlet Blacks are not only few in numbers, but are extremely “underserved.”
“We’ve had a Black community no matter how small in Idaho for a very long time,” she said. “We are a very underserved community because we are small and a very marginalized group.”
People who identify as Black or African American make up 0.9 percent of Idaho’s population, the most recent U.S. Census reports.
While the group makes up such a small percentage of citizens who live in the state, statistics from The COVID Tracking Project show Blacks eclipsing whites, Asians, Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders, and American Indian/Alaska Natives in COVID-19 cases and deaths in January 2021 and Blacks had some of the highest numbers during the time of canvassing.
Read full story at Atlanta Black Star here.
