Recipient Organization Is Uniquely Suited To Respond To COVID-19
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Pfizer Foundation Makes Contribution To Support Short and Long-Term Pandemic Recovery in New Orleans
Recipient Organization Is Uniquely Suited To Respond To COVID-19
CONTACT:
[email protected]
May 1, 2020
New Orleans, LA — The Pfizer Foundation ([link removed]) has donated $250,000 to Forward Together New Orleans ([link removed]) (FTNO), the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization filling urgent gaps in community needs and available resources to protect our city during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds will be used for short-term relief efforts and much longer term recovery work.
With the Pfizer Foundation’s support, Forward Together New Orleans is supplementing the City's efforts to provide for residents' basic needs (food, clothing, shelter), mental and behavioral health needs, economic stability, job assistance, and educational enrichment.
Given the scale of COVID-19 and its far-reaching impacts on the City of New Orleans, the organization plans to immediately issue grants and scale programming in the aforementioned spheres. This contribution allows for full flexibility for FTNO to put the funds to the greatest area of need, which is vital in crisis response because challenges will emerge in the future that we cannot see in the present.
Said Mayor LaToya Cantrell: “I want to thank Pfizer for their generous contribution, which will save lives in New Orleans. Our city has been leading the way in disaster recovery and fighting health disparities since Hurricane Katrina. This helps us continue that path, demonstrating how we can come together as businesses, government, and non-profits to address our residents' most pressing needs now.”
Mayor Cantrell’s administration has uncovered hundreds of millions in infrastructure dollars to fix New Orleans’ ancient drainage system, and now turns its attention to human infrastructure. After Hurricane Katrina while a neighborhood leader, Mayor Cantrell helped stand up five community health clinics to bring affordable access to residents. As Councilperson, she led the fight to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. As Mayor, she formed Fit NOLA, a partnership between the City of New Orleans and local organizations working together to fight obesity by promoting physical activity and improved nutrition. She created the Fast Track City Steering Committee to develop an HIV strategy to end the epidemic by 2030. With a majority Black population, New Orleans is especially hit hard by the underlying health issues which have caused the Black community to experience a higher death rate from COVID-19.
“Amid this global health crisis, we understand the need for immediate and significant philanthropic and private sector contributions to help sustain local partners who are working on the front lines to save lives,” said Caroline Roan, President, The Pfizer Foundation and Vice President, Global Health & Patient Access, Pfizer Inc. “At Pfizer, we believe it is our responsibility to help protect the most vulnerable from this disease and are putting the full weight of our resources behind our comprehensive COVID-19 response,” said Caroline Roan, President of the Pfizer Foundation.
The Forward Together New Orleans Board is uniquely suited to help respond to the pandemic and its ensuing health disparities. Dr. Kathleen Kennedy is the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana and on the . In 2007, Dr. Kennedy organized the first national health disparities conference (which continues annually) for mid-level health care professionals. She served as the Director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education during Hurricane Katrina until 2009. Dr. Kennedy is also the Chair of the Greater New Orleans Chapter of the American Heart Association, a member of the Louisiana COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and Chair of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools.
“We’re in a moment of serious crisis for our city, and FTNO is committed to acting as a hub for business, government, and community-based organizations to work together on response and recovery. As a continuation of my work on health disparities, I am proud to support the Cantrell Administration’s efforts and will move quickly and decisively to help New Orleans recover again, as I did after Hurricane Katrina” said Dr. Kennedy.
Fellow Board Member Dr. Eric Griggs has a unique perspective as a community health expert. He is on the front lines of the pandemic as Director of Community Medicine at Access Health Louisiana, where he has been hosting regular Facebook lives to educate residents on COVID-19 preparedness, along with Infectious Diseases Physician Dr. MarkAlain Dery and Chief Medical Editor for WDSU, Dr. Corey Hebert. As a board member of the South Broad Community Health Center, formed in Mayor Cantrell’s own neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina, he is steeped in experience of how neighborhoods can lead the charge for recovery.
Board Member Dr. Silas Lee’s extensive knowledge of and experience with the social and cultural dynamics of urban society, as well as his expertise in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, offer an important perspective for Forward Together New Orleans.
About the Pfizer Foundation
The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions. The Foundation’s mission is to promote access to quality healthcare, to nurture innovation, and to support the community involvement of Pfizer colleagues.
About Pfizer: Breakthroughs That Change Patients’ Lives
At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products, including innovative medicines and vaccines. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.Pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.Pfizer.com and
follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.
About Forward Together New Orleans
Forward Together New Orleans is dedicated to helping all the people of New Orleans. Our goal is to make the city a fairer, more inclusive place - a city of opportunity for all. We work toward this goal by forging partnerships between community organizations and the business and philanthropic sectors. These partnerships are meant to improve the lives of New Orleanians in every corner of the city.
Forward Together New Orleans is a 501(c)(3) organization that launched in 2018 as the transition committee for Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell. In those early stages, FTNO brought together some 200 community stakeholder volunteers to collaborate on a set of recommendations for the incoming administration.
Since that time, FTNO has evolved into an effort to bridge the public and private sectors and address New Orleans’ most pressing challenges. As of the spring of the 2020, that challenge is the coronavirus, an extraordinary public health and economic threat.
Forward Together New Orleans partners with the City of New Orleans to assist with mobile testing, neighborhood navigators, rental assistance, food security, and a bridge fund. Board members include Eric Griggs, M.D., Dr. Silas Lee, and Dr. Kathleen Kennedy. Liana Elliott, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Cantrell, serves as liaison to the board from the city.
Founded to reflect the collaborative, grassroots leadership Mayor LaToya Cantrell has brought to City Hall, the goal is for FTNO to thrive long past her tenure in office, a vehicle that offers nonprofit, partnership support to future New Orleans mayors.
Visit our website to learn more at ftno.org ([link removed]) .
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