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Representative Initiatives in Health
and Human Services
HIV/AIDS Capacity Building
CTAC conducted a national initiative to help diverse communities throughout
the United States to develop effective, comprehensive strategies to
address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and to shape national policy that is
more supportive of integrated care and prevention strategies at the
local level. In so doing, the project provided field-tested examples
for improving community health care and social service planning -
in the AIDS field, and with learnings applicable to other health care
arenas. Click here for publications on
coordinating HIV/AIDS programs community-wide.
CTAC also has built the capacity of more than thirty AIDS Consumer Advisory Boards throughout Massachusetts. The Consumer Advisory Boards, comprised of individuals with HIV infection or AIDS, have sought to become affective consumer advocates by evaluating services, recommending new programs, changing existing services and participating as board members of social service agencies. CTAC has assisted the boards to define the role of consumers in the delivery of services, increase their skills as consumer advocates, establish priorities and strategies, and build productive partnerships with the Department of Public Health, human service agencies and collaboratives throughout the state.
School/Community Collaboration for
Health and Human Services
For many children living in poverty, their un-addressed health and human service issues pose obstacles to their success in school. As technical assistance provider, CTAC has fostered efforts to increase students' academic performance by addressing health and other non-educational needs of children through a system of integrated family support services at school sites.
Refugee and Immigrant Healthcare
Access
CTAC provides ongoing training and technical assistance to low-income
neighborhood-based, resident-led organizations that are organizing
diverse immigrant or refugee communities to address health and related
issues. Recent examples include:
- New Immigrant Community Empowerment, in Queens, NY,
a coalition of community groups creating an immigrant-based, community-driven
agenda for new immigrants to use as an influential tool to improve
access to government services, including health care;
- The Latin American Workers Project, in Brooklyn, NY,
organizing and informing immigrant workers - particularly women
- about their health care rights;
- Centro Hispano "Cuzcatlan", in the Jamaica community
of Queens, NY, developing an organized voice of new immigrants
from Central and South America, who have often felt isolated and
powerless in struggles with health care and other service providers;
- Chhaya CDC, in Flushing, NY, representing the growing
population of South Asian Americans, immigrants and their children,
from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Caribbean, in efforts
to secure improved health care;
- La Familia Verde, in Bronx, NY, a coalition of residents
promoting a multi-issue agenda including health and immigrant
services.
Environmental Health
Low-income neighborhoods suffer disproportionally from environmental health hazards. CTAC assists local grassroots organizations to organize responses to health risks. Recent examples include:
- Unified New Cassel Community Revitalization Corp.,
in Westbury, NY, engaging community members to come together to
work with government officials and industry leaders to clean up
a local Superfund site on which the community sits;
- Right to Know Committee, in Philadelphia, PA, focusing
on health and pollution issues impacting residents of Southwest
Philadelphia neighborhoods. The group has conducted a preliminary
health survey to record data on the scope and severity of health
issues, to use as a tool in influencing decision-making.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence, a major health, human service, and human rights issue that cuts to the core of a community, is among the issues that community-based organizations take on. CTAC has assisted a number of these groups.
A recent example is the Battered Women's Resource Center, which was founded to change systems to prevent the further abuse of victims of domestic violence. Their Voices of Women Organizing Project is the first citywide organization of battered women in New York City whose primary goal is to advocate for a better and more just response from agencies that sometimes victimize women in the bureaucratic processes that are supposed to make them more safe.
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