CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: Auburn Gresham is a predominantly African American working-class bungalow belt neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the racial gap is unacceptable and the result of a racist system that for generations left black neighborhoods with little access to health care, jobs, education and healthy food, conditions, she adds, that aren't unique to Chicago.
CORLEY: Distributing free masks, hundreds of door hangers and thousands of postcards about COVID-19 are part of the effort by the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team.
CORLEY: Recently, hundreds of people on foot and in cars lined the blocks for a pop-up food pantry run by Carlos Nelson's group and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
CORLEY: His daughter was fine, and Flores hopes the city's racial equity work will help make that true for so many others in communities of color hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
