Charlottesville Tomorrow, journalist Jordy Yager, and Vinegar Hill Magazine have partnered to lift up a series of inclusive narratives documenting the immediate impacts and exploring the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Central Virginia region. The multimodal storytelling project employs art, audio-visual content, and journalism to humanize the pandemic, highlight stories of resilience and struggle, and examine the possibilities of building a stronger and more inclusive social fabric.
The project will explore the immediate and long-term effects of the public health crisis and economic shutdown through the lens of the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), as described by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion:
“Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.”
In this project, we have chosen to focus on the following 5 key areas:
- Economic Stability
- Education
- Social and Community Context
- Health and Health Care
- Neighborhood and Built Environment
The stories will be co-produced by Charlottesville Tomorrow and Vinegar Hill and appear on both outlets’ channels and platforms with the intention of building a larger, more diverse, audience than either outlet currently reaches. The reporting energy will center on how these determinants operate in people’s lives and how people, systems, and processes play a role in creating the current and future conditions. The collective approach is designed to uplift a collective community voice that explores how systems should be equitably reconstructed in a post-COVID world.
Artwork: ‘Mask Up’ by Sahara Clemons
Stay engaged with the project HERE on the ‘Determined’ landing page.
