The Morehouse School of Medicine is the recipient of a new $40 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services intended to help in the fight against the spread of coronavirus in communities of color, as well as rural and poor areas.

The HHS Department’s Office of Minority Health said in a statement that it is working with Morehouse on a three-year project along with community-based organizations nationwide that will deliver resources, information and education to strengthen efforts against the pandemic. The initiative is intended to connect communities to COVID-19 testing, healthcare and social services and to create beneficial strategies.

“Communities throughout the country have already done a lot of hard work to adapt and respond to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on racial and ethnic minority, rural and vulnerable populations,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health RADM Felicia Collins, M.D. “OMH and the Morehouse School of Medicine look forward to continue working with our communities to link them to the information, resources, healthcare and services needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

The Office of Minority Health announced the initiative, titled the National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities (NIMIC) on May 1 in a funding announcement, according to its website. It is expected to begin in July and the first award will be for $14.6 million.

“We know the power of partnerships to help us solve our most pressing public health challenges,” said U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams in the statement. “This initiative has at its core the community-based organizations who know their people best and who are committed to working collaboratively to reduce health-inequities and make them healthy and safe.”