United Way of Greater Atlanta is among a select group of local United Ways that will benefit from the new COVID-19 Relief Fund created by Black Entertainment Television (BET) in partnership with United Way Worldwide to support African American communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.   

BET will host a broadcast special, Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort, to raise money for the Fund which will go to support community-based programs of local United Ways in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City – cities where the African American population has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort will air on Wednesday, April 22 at 8pm ET on BET and BET Her domestically, as well as their channels internationally bringing awareness to over 90 million homes.  Additionally, BET will join forces with Bounce to simulcast Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort.  Internationally, the show will be broadcast on Saturday, April 25 in the UK at 9:00 pm BST, Korea at 9:00 pm KST, Africa at 6:00 pm CAT, and France at 10:30 pm CEST.

Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort will be co-hosted by Grammy Award-Winning singer and actress Kelly Rowland, TV personality Terrence J, actress Regina Hall and actor Anthony Anderson.  Celebrity guest appearances and performances will include Usher, Ludacris, Ciara, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Alicia Keys, John Legend, DJ D-Nice, DJ Khaled, Charlie Wilson, Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin, Fantasia, Melvin Crispell III, and many more. The special will give up-to-date information and drive viewers to needed resources during this unprecedented time. 

“For the African-American community, COVID-19 is not only a health pandemic, but also exposes the increased effects of inequity across Greater Atlanta. There is a disproportionate – and now magnified – divide in access to healthcare, financial equity and housing stability in the 13-counties that we serve,” says Milton J. Little, Jr., President and CEO of United Way of Greater Atlanta. “A huge thank you to BET for their support of Greater Atlanta’s African-American community.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has left no state untouched, recent studies show that it is having a disproportionately negative impact on African American communities in multiple ways.   Death rates from COVID-19 are higher for African Americans; financial instability is being worsened by layoffs and closures in sectors like retail, hospitality, and healthcare, where African American workers are over-represented; and low-income African American students face a greater risk of learning loss and inadequate access to nutritious food with massive school closures.