Impact
Everything that we do at MHI starts with engaging communities.
Since 2020, MHI has completed:
194
Interviews with community leaders, public health professionals, and providers that informed our COVID-19 and Afghan Health portfolios.
105
Best and Promising Practices that showcased innovative programs around the country that serve refugees and immigrants.
62
Checklists and guides to assist migrant-serving organizations in program development using best practices.
17
Capacity-building toolkits have guided community-based organizations in replicating the innovative work of their peers.
“When I realized that there was actually a whole section, pretty much a website just dedicated to the immigrant population… from then it became my primary source of information.”
-CBO Staff
Reach
Since 2020, MHI’s resources have been used by individuals and organizations in all 50 states and 183 countries.
Workforce Development
We collaborated with the UN Migration Agency on a workforce development project, holding 39 trainings across 19 countries that build the capacity of their workforce to address the medical needs of U.S.-bound refugees.
“The toolkit was my greatest highlight [of the workshop]. It answers every question regarding planning training and is an extremely valuable asset.”
-Training Participant
Community Support
200
Since 2020, MHI and its partners funded or financially supported more than 200 migrant-serving organizations, community leaders, or community members.
54
Since 2020, MHI has provided 54 mini-grants to reduce time and cost barriers to using our toolkits and printable materials.
Contributions to the field
Regardless of the portfolio we are working on, we are committed to sharing our resources and learnings with the broader migration health community.
41
National and international conferences, incuding the North American Refugee Health Conference (NARHC), and conferences hosted by NACCHO, ASTHO, and others.
3,637
Attendees at 37 MHI-hosted webinars, covering topics like community engagement, language justice, and program development. Thousands more attended webinars by other organizations where we were featured speakers.
CDC Yellow Book
The MHI team authored a chapter in the 2026 CDC Yellow Book titled Health Communication with Refugee, Immigrant and Migrant Communities.
White House Event
In 2021, the MHI team was invited by the White House to give a presentation at an event titled Building Vaccine Confidence in the Arab-American Community.
New York Times
MHI has served as subject matter experts in interviews with the media including the New York Times, which interviewed Program Director Erin Mann for a 2021 article titled Many Unvaccinated Latinos in the U.S. Want the Shot, New Survey Finds.
“I just LOVE your work…. As a capacity building assistance provider, your work is always our “Go To” when working with CBOs who are looking for more people of color friendly reliable public health messaging.”
-Webinar Attendee
Impact Stories
Drowning prevention in Tennessee
After a series of tragic drownings, a community health worker used the Summer Safety Collection to start conversations with parents about water safety and encourage them to sign up for classes at the local community center.
Health meetup groups empower mothers
An Ethiopian elder finds community and embraces important preventive health screenings among other refugee mothers, who she sees monthly for Mothers x Mothers health meetup groups put on by a local community-based organization.
Health education for refugees in Malaysia
A doctor with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) sent MHI’s COVID-19 resources to community leaders who were able to customize them, saving staff time while giving communities decision-making power over what was sent out.
Supporting cancer screenings for Afghan women
A community clinic in Ohio organized health education events using MHI’s Women’s Wellness resources to encourage newly arrived Afghan women to get important breast and cervical cancer screenings.
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COVID-19
MHI was the national leader in multilingual COVID-19 vaccination resources.
7
Seven multilingual vaccine campaigns featured print, digital, audio, and video resources to meet community needs.
41
Among our COVID-19 campaigns, 41 unique languages were represented, including rare languages from indigenous and refugee communities.
123K
Through 2023, MHI saw more than 123,000 downloads of our COVID-19 vaccination campaign materials across all fifty states.
20K
More than 20,000 unique visitors sought information from the MHI website every month during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Evidence of success
An independent, mixed methods evaluation highlighted the effectiveness of our health communication materials in promoting healthy decision-making, bridging cultural and linguistic gaps, and equipping trusted messengers with culturally relevant, evidence-based messages. The evaluation findings underscore the crucial need for culturally relevant communications created and disseminated in partnership with organizations and migrant communities.1
Alexandra Quinn, et al, examined 15 COVID-19 communication campaigns that claim to be “equity-focused,” and found that MHI’s and a campaign run by the NAACP were the only two that met the criteria for strategic communications set by the World Health Organization. The review praised our approach as “rooted in community co-design,” mobilizing local chapters and community members to lead meaningful conversations.2
46,000
MHI funded 10 International Rescue Committee offices around the country. Collectively, they served 46,000 people at COVID-19 vaccine events.3
“I wanted to reach out and let you know how appreciative we are of these resources! They are so easy to use and adapt. We really appreciate it and only wished I had found them sooner!”
-CBO Staff
NACCHO Partnership
MHI partnered with the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to issue grants to U.S. health departments and community-based organizations to create and strengthen sustainable partnerships with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities in their jurisdictions. 4
23
23 NACCHO pilot sites were funded around the country for COVID-19 projects requiring partnerships between a health department and a community-based organization.
1,000
More than 1,000 COVID-19 education sessions were held to support vaccine confidence among refugee and immigrant communities.
15,000
Health departments partnered with community-based organizations to administer 15,000 COVID-19 vaccines.
22,000
Community health workers conducted 22,000 home visits with support from MHI projects and funding.
180,000
180,000 individuals were reached through other outreach activities
Afghan Health Promotion
Robust collection of practical resources, including:
10 Health education collections
Ten health education collections were developed in partnership with the International Rescue Committee to meet the needs of Afghan new arrivals. Topics spanned infectious diseases, mental health, severe weather preparedness, nutrition, sexual/reproductive health and more. Every resource was rigorously translated, culturally validated, and customizable.
6 Health education toolkits
Toolkits were based on the innovative practices happening at IRC offices and included practical resources such as budget templates, logistics checklists, translated materials, and culturally validated approaches to topics like sexual/reproductive health and nutrition.
309K
Through partnership with IRC, MHI reached 309,249 people through the Settle In Facebook page for Afghans.1
590K
As of the end of FY2024, the MHI website has seen more than 240,000 unique users and over 590,000 page views.
3,842
In 2024, MHI reached 3,842 people via Afghan Health promotion efforts at 10 IRC offices across 8 states.
“I wanted to pass along how useful your translations have been for our members (health departments in the largest U.S. cities). I’ve been forwarding your materials to their comms staff, and they are some of the most downloaded resources I send.”
-Health Department Staff
Notes
- Evaluation conducted by Picture Impact, Inc.
- Quinn, A., White, A., Abbatangelo-Gray, J., McCarron, S., Schub, T., & Ratzan, S. C. (2023). COVID-19 Communication Campaigns for Vaccination: An Assessment with Perspectives for Future Equity-Centered Public Health Efforts. Journal of Health Communication, 28(sup1), 54–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2023.2208529
- Data provided by IRC Monitoring and Evaluation Team
- Data provided by NACCHO and LTG Associates