Report: Promoting Mental Health of Young People of Color

Posted by The Steve Fund on December 15, 2020

Adapting and Innovating to Promote Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being of Young People of Color: COVID-19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast deeply-ingrained inequities in American society into stark view. Just as pre-existing health conditions have made individuals more vulnerable to COVID-19, structural racism has made certain communities more vulnerable to the disease. For example, Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, and Latino populations are at least three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as their white neighbors. COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting people of color economically and psychologically as well. In the second quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate among Black and Latino people was more than 16%, compared to 12% for whites. With regard to psychological impacts, more than 30% of Asian-American adults say they have experienced interpersonal racism since the pandemic began, and Blacks and Latinos report higher rates of depression, anxiety, and trauma-related symptoms as a result of the pandemic than do whites. The multiple and intersecting marginalized identities carried by many students of color — such as socioeconomic, immigration and ability status; sexual orientation; gender identity; and cultural background — can amplify these disparities and trauma-related symptoms. Further exacerbating an already extremely difficult situation, George Floyd’s death and the nationwide protests and conversations about systemic bias and racism it sparked have rapidly escalated the stressors already burdening communities of color.

Download the report here

Produce by The Steve Fund. The Steve Fund is the nation’s only organization focused on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color. The Steve Fund works with colleges and universities, non-profits, researchers, mental health experts, families, and young people to promote programs and strategies that build understanding and assistance for the mental and emotional health of the nation’s young people of color.

Learn more about The Steve Fund here.