Support for SHARP has come from many corners. Accenture provided PPE donations through its African American Employee Resource Group. The SHARP team purchased more supplies and funded activities through grants from the Penn Medicine CAREs program, PSOM’s medical student government, and PennHealthX, a medical student group.

Meanwhile, as the pandemic has evolved, SHARP’s support for the salons and barbershops has shifted and grown due to the team’s emphasis on listening to the community members about their needs. Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics helped conduct focus groups to better understand the challenges of safe reopening including analysis of the attitudes and perceptions of owners and patrons of these businesses. Through this listening, they learned that mental health and financial solvency were major concerns — and SHARP forged new connections through Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships to help address these needs, including a seminar on grant writing.

SHARP is also playing a key role in helping the community safely bridge to the long-awaited end of the pandemic: In 2021, salons and barbershops connected with SHARP have also served as positive vaccine ambassadors by encouraging their social networks to get vaccinated and referring people in their networks to Penn’s community-based vaccination sites.