Dataset from Alive Church Network: Increasing COVID-19 Testing in Chicago's African American Testing Deserts

Background: The purpose of this study was to address disparities in COVID-19 testing and care among African American communities in segregated neighborhoods of Chicago, which experienced some of the city’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates. African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic due to systemic inequities that increased exposure risk and limited access to healthcare. Many residents delayed testing and treatment, leading to higher transmission and worse outcomes. To mitigate these inequities, the study leveraged the Alive Church Network (ACN), a long-standing coalition of African American pastors and public health researchers focused on health equity to provide trusted, accessible, and community-based COVID-19 testing, education, and linkage to resources in underserved neighborhoods.

Materials/Methods: This study utilized the existing ACN infrastructure to establish a network of church-based COVID-19 testing sites on Chicago’s West Side. Thirteen ACN pastors collaborated with an on-site clinical team to deliver free SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing with rapid result turnaround. The study population included residents of all ages, who also received culturally tailored education about COVID-19 prevention, and were connected to healthcare and social services addressing food insecurity, housing instability, and medical needs. A rapid needs assessment identified barriers and facilitators to testing, guiding outreach and intervention strategies. The study used the RE-AIM framework to evaluate the program’s reach, adoption, implementation, maintenance, and cost. For the primary analysis, an interrupted time series design—a quasi-experimental approach—was applied to assess whether the ACN intervention increased COVID-19 testing uptake by at least 20% among residents in high-poverty African American neighborhoods.

Outcome/Impact: The study demonstrated that leveraging faith-based networks such as the ACN provided a trusted and sustainable mechanism to deliver community-based COVID-19 testing in underserved African American neighborhoods. The intervention successfully increased testing accessibility, improved engagement with healthcare resources, and strengthened trust between public health systems and marginalized communities. Findings provided critical evidence supporting faith-based partnerships as scalable models for addressing health inequities and informed strategies to replicate similar programs in other vulnerable urban areas across Chicago and nationwide.