Making Connections International District—also known as MC:ID—is a youth-led collaborative in Albuquerque, New Mexico that keeps young men of color mentally healthy. They do it by providing skills and support to the young men so they can act as agents of positive change in their community. As life in Albuquerque’s International District has shifted to prevent the spread of COVID-19, MC:ID partners, led by the community group Together for Brothers, have found new ways to connect so they can impact decisions about where their community goes from here.

MC: ID is part of Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys, a national initiative to transform community conditions that influence mental wellbeing. Funded by Movember and facilitated by Prevention Institute, Making Connections brings together 13 communities across the U.S. that are working to shift policies, practices, and norms to create greater opportunities for health and resilience among men and boys of color, military service members, and veterans. Learn more on the Making Connections website.

New podcast: Cities respond to COVID-19

Much of the media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic response has focused on what the federal government and state governors are doing—or failing to do. But city governments were some of the first to respond to the crisis and will continue to play a vital role as the immediate crisis phase of pandemic response transitions to a phase of recovery.

In this new podcast, Sana Chehimi, PI’s policy and advocacy director, interviews Sue Polis, director of health and wellness, and Mike Wallace, legislative director, of the National League of Cities. They discuss the many ways city governments are responding to coronavirus fallout issues like housing and homelessness problems, economic instability, and mental health challenges at the same time they’re facing their own financial problems. Polis and Wallace highlight how the upheaval of the pandemic is bringing to the forefront the long-term challenges cities have been struggling with, like racial inequities and the precarious situation of people who live on the economic margins.

National League of Cities is collecting and sharing actions taken by local leaders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on their Local Action Tracker.