Door To Door In Miami's 'Little Havana' To Build Trust For Testing And Vaccination

Little Havana is a neighborhood in Miami that, until the pandemic, was known for its active street life along Calle Ocho, including live music venues. There you can find examples of the quintessential ventanita serving Cuban coffee and a historic park where men gather to play dominoes.

But during the pandemic, a local group called Healthy Little Havana is zeroing in on this area with a very specific assignment: convincing residents to get a coronavirus test.

The nonprofit has lots of outreach experience. It helped with the local count for the 2020 Census, for example, and because of the pandemic did most of that work by phone. But this new challenge, community leaders say, needs a face-to-face approach.

The group's outreach workers have been heading out almost daily to walk the quiet residential streets, to convince as many people as possible to get tested for the coronavirus. On a recent afternoon, a group of three — Elvis Mendes, María Elena González and Alejandro Díaz — knocked on door after door at a two-story apartment building. Many people here have jobs in the service industry, retail or construction; most of them aren't home when visitors come calling.