INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State University’s Department of Social Work has been awarded a grant for more than $300,000 to help address COVID-19 disparities in rural areas of West Virginia.
The funds come from the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Public Health’s Office of Community Health Systems & Health Promotion.
Kerri Steele, chair of WVSU’s Department of Social Work, said the funds are aimed at reducing COVID-19-related health disparities, improving and increasing testing and contact tracing among rural communities, building community capacity to prevent and control COVID-19, and building community capacity to prevent severe COVID-19.
Steele said the department will provide education, community service, and research to rural areas in need.
“As an HBCU, WVSU has a rich history of service in our community,” Steele said. “The Department of Social Work is pleased to carry on this tradition with an opportunity to prevent and manage COVID-19 in some of our hardest hit rural communities.”
With a focus on providing preventative care and connecting community members to resources and services, Steele said the goal is to prevent or manage underlying conditions and reduce risk for severe COVID-19 infection.
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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.