HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
In working to address the conditions and root causes of poverty, CTAC builds the capacity of organizations to respond to increasing needs of some of the most severely disenfranchised groups – including people with HIV or AIDS, children living in urban poverty, refugees and immigrants, and people living near toxic dumps. Initiatives include:
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.