A Case Study of Community-based, Cross-sectoral Crisis Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Serving Racialized Immigrant Communities

Crises—such as the COVID-19 pandemic—bring about myriad problems in magnitude (severity), dynamism (quality), and urgency (timing). Collaborative models that bring together actors from both the public and private sector have thus emerged for institutionalized and community-based crisis response. Such models aim particularly to reach vulnerable, hard-to-reach communities, such as racialized immigrant communities that are among those disproportionately impacted at times of crisis. This paper presents a case study of a community-based, cross-sectoral collaborative formed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and specifically targeting immigrant communities. Findings inform a conceptual framework that illustrates the integration of two spheres of service: crisis supports, characterized by a short-term approach, broad-based reach and general objectives; and settlement supports, characterized by their long-term approach, trust relations and targeted objectives, such as language supports and culturally appropriate outreach.