OFFICE OF HEALTH EQUITY
AND CRISIS COORDINATION
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The GHC3 Worship Action Coalition Playbooks represent our commitment to help all faiths return safely to their places of worship and to collaborate with faith leaders to find real solutions to the inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. They are intended to be guides for faith leaders to navigate the issues of vaccine messaging, vaccine access, and setting up their own houses of worship as vaccine sites.
Click playbook images to open or download full playbook.
The initial aim of the Worship Action Coalition was to create best practices for worshiping in- person safely. We are now focused on 1) the role of clergy as trusted sources of information on COVID vaccines, and 2) congregations at disproportionate risk for COVID-19 as locations where members and the surrounding community can get vaccinated, and 3) how both clergy and houses of worship can participate effectively in addressing health disparities. Together, we’re learning about the challenges and working to find real solutions.
The WAC finds strength in our diversity. At the heart of the coalition, we have faith leaders directly representing nearly 35 different houses of worship across eight states, the Navajo Nation, and British Columbia. More than two-thirds of faith leaders within WAC preside over congregations with significant racial and ethnic minority populations. Our impact extends to mosques, churches, temples, and missions comprised of between 400 and 7,000 congregants, with the average house of worship involved in WAC representing a congregation of around 3,500 individuals.
Six national and international interfaith nonprofits, sixteen faith-based organization and associations, five regional healthcare systems and departments of public health, four institutes of higher education, HHS, the CDC, and eighteen more secular nonprofits and corporations constitute a complementary part of WAC. Together with our partners, WAC’s reach extends to over thirty states and the District of Columbia, two Tribal nations, four Canadian provinces, and multiple countries across the globe.
We also take pride in our coalition’s diverse religious backgrounds, with members belonging to various Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Baha’i communities across North America. There is also sound denominational variety within each religious community, with 4 different branches of Judaism and 11 Christian denominations represented within our coalition. Our most active members constitute about 1/3 of WAC, and they disproportionately represent more Black and Hispanic populations than the general coalition body. We also have a strong presence of various Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu leaders, public health experts, and health-oriented nonprofits in this highly active group.
American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP)
Al-Farooq Masjid, Atlanta, GA
West Cobb Islamic Center (Masjid Al-Furqan), Marietta, GA
Providence Healthcare, Vancouver, BC
Zaytuna College, Berkley, CA
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
Beauregard Health System, DeRidder, LA
Catholic Charities USA
The Temple, Atlanta, GA
Association of Immunization Managers (AIM)
Breakwater Light
All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
United Way of NYC, New York, NY
Conference of National Black Churches
Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA
The Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
The Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Redeeming Babel
Redeeming Babel
Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA)
The Partnership Center, Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Our Lady Lourdes of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
GroupSpace Management
The Carter Center
Pima County Department of Health, Tucson, AZ
Westside Church, Fort Pierce, FL
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers
Ad Council
Community Bible Church, Fort Smith, AR
Ad Council
Choose Healthy Life
Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA
The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago, IL
Peletah Ministries, New Bern, NC
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
Metropolitan Baptist Church, Largo, MD
ADAMS Center, Sterling, VA
Orthodox Union
Walmart
Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)
The Carter Center
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Church of the Common Ground, Atlanta, GA
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)
Eagle Nest Church, Alpharetta, GA
Crossroads Community Ministries, Atlanta, GA
United Way of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Florida Baptist Convention, Jacksonville, FL
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Imam Asad Khan, Atlanta, GA
National Association of Evangelicals
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Rabbinical Assembly
Seventh-day Adventist World Headquarters
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
BCDI-Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Coxe Curry & Associates
Association of Immunization Managers (AIM)
Southwest Conference United Church of Christ, Phoenix, AZ
Community Bible Church, Fort Smith, AR
Anglican Church of Canada
Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center, Atlanta, GA
ADAMS Center, Sterling, VA
Christian Churches Together
Pima County Department of Health, Tucson, AZ
Catholic Charities USA
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Inspiritus
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
Cascade United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA
Ad Council
United Way of NYC, New York, NY
CORE Response
Madina Institute, Altanta, GA
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
Whiteriver Assembly of God, Whiteriver, AZ
Grace United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA
Vaccinate Your Family (VYF)
Orthodox Union West Coast
Compassion Kitchen, Atlanta, GA
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
CORE Response
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)
Al-Farooq Masjid, Atlanta, GA
National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
John Paul II Roman Catholic Mission, Gainesville, GA
Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Tucson, AZ
The Rabbinical Assembly
American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP)
All Saints Church Pasadena, Pasadena, CA
Guidehouse
Intelligent Epi, Inc.
American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP)
The Historic St. James Missionary Baptist Church, Fayetteville, AR
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
St. John Paul II Roman Catholic Mission, Gainesville, GA
Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, BC
MassBio, Cambridge, MA
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
West Cobb Islamic Center (Masjid Al-Furqan), Marietta, GA
Ad Council
United Way of NYC, New York, NY
Apache Indian Reservation, Whiteriver, AZ
Tuckson Health Connections
The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA
Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, Atlanta, GA
American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP)
Sojourners
Orthodox Union
Association of Immunization Managers (AIM)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Skinner Leadership Institute
Christus St. Frances Cabrini Health System, LA
Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA
Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA)
The input we receive during our roundtables is used to develop comprehensive Back 2 Worship plans. Some of the feedback includes:
“We need information about cost, safety, and efficacy at our fingertips to encourage people to get the vaccine.”
“There should be more information about vaccine ingredients. It would be of concern to the Muslim community if ingredients were porcine deratives.”
“Can we ensure that we will not harm anyone by potential exposure to COVID-19?”
“If we can’t ensure people’s safety, we won’t return until we can.”
Faith leaders observed that precautions such as wearing masks, barring singing, no physical contact (hugging, holding hands) diminishes the value of in-person prayer.
Participants showed interest in more roundtables to “look for more opportunities to work with different faiths” and determine universal, generally applicable solutions.
OFFICE OF HEALTH EQUITY
AND CRISIS COORDINATION
GHC3 is now the Office of Health Equity and Crisis Coordination, a division of the Center for Global Health Innovation (CGHI). The Center for Global Health Innovation is an Atlanta-based 501(c)3 organization launched in 2019 to bring together diverse Global Health, Health Technology and Life Sciences entities to collaborate, innovate and activate solutions to enhance human health outcomes around the world. At its core, CGHI will orchestrate programs that promote cross discipline cooperation to strengthen capabilities, accelerate problem solving and respond to global health crises. The Center will continue to support its subsidiary organizations, Georgia Bio and Georgia Global Health Alliance and is standing up a permanent Global Health Crisis Coordination Center to bringing to bear the best private sector and public sector capabilities and experience in times of need.