NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Community groups are coming together Tuesday to push for vaccine education in Nashville. There are specific areas being targeted in this effort.
A virtual town hall is being hosted by the Nashville Promise Zone (NPZ) infrastructure work group. According to its website, the NPZ is a federally designated area that makes up 46-square miles and includes neighborhoods just south, east and north of Nashville’s central business district.
The town hall is focusing on the people who live in these areas and is part of a series working to educate residents who have limited COVID-19 resources, according to the group's event page.
The Metro Development and Housing Agency, along with neighborhood health, are partnering for the event. It’s happening today from noon to 12:30 p.m. and includes two medical clinicians who can answer questions about the vaccines.
Additionally, we compared the Davidson County COVID-19 Dashboard map and the NPZ area map, and it showed at least seven of our zip codes at least partially fall into this area.
From looking at the numbers in some of the zip codes partially in this zone, there are thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths in those zip codes, according to data from the Davidson County COVID-19 dashboard – which shows the NPZ area, like all of Nashville, has been hit hard by the pandemic.
While the education push continues here in Nashville, the State of Tennessee postponed its 2021 immunization summit. It's just the latest in a series of controversial decisions from the state health department surrounding vaccine outreach in the Volunteer State.
Read more: Tennessee postpones vaccine summit
MORE ABOUT THE NPZ
According to its website, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded Nashville with a Promise Zone designation in 2016. The designation provides 10 years of support including "priority access to federal investments in six subzones that further communities’ strategic plans, a federal liaison to help local leaders navigate federal resources and several full-time AmericCorps VISTA members to strengthen the capacity of the Promise Zone initiatives."
The purpose of the NPZ is to “foster intensive partnerships among Nashville's organizations that serve high poverty neighborhoods, improve the collective impact of their service and address revitalization in a collaborative way.”
