 |
 |
Contract No. 09-79055-006 March 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012.
“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”
-African Proverb
February 15, 2012
Legislative Briefing Flyer for February 6, 2012 |
General Jeff and The Hip Hop Community Project in Collaboration with AAHI-SBC, March 6, 2012 |
General Jeff & The Hip Hop Community Project
General Jeff & The Skid Row Hip Hop Summit
Invitation to Joint the Hip Hop Community Movement! |
CRDP Statewide Meeting, April 19 & 20, 2012 |
Public Forum
California Legislative Briefing, Feb 6, 2012
Please visit this page again for more updates real soon......
November 2011
Where are we at this point?
As shared in our last update June 30th, during Phase II we began analyzing data, editing our report, and reporting preliminary results of community-defined practices.
July, August and September 2011, we continued to give presentations sharing preliminary findings, attending numerous meetings including the DMH stakeholders meetings and the MHS Oversight and Accountability Commission (OAC) meetings giving testimony advocating with collaborative partners such as REMHDCO, CPEHN, and the other SPWs, for community-defined practices to ensure community input, and to promote the community’s voice for meaningful practices.
September 23rd we disseminated our DRAFT African American Population Report to Black community leaders to begin our 30-day Public Review Period. This DRAFT was 249 pages and contained preliminary data findings. With limited financial resources, we were able to give a color copy in a 3 ring binder to 25 Black community leaders in different counties and regions throughout the state so that community members could see an actual physical copy.
October 1 to 31, 2011 was our official 30-day public review period. We posted the DRAFT African American Population Report on the AAHI-SBC website (under the “CRDP Statewide Project” drop down menu leading to “AfrAm Population Report”), and mailed 65 color copies in a 3-ring binder to SPW members, consultants, advisors, and the California Black Legislature. The intent of the public review was to provide content validation. Again, we were limited by project funds.
During October 2011, we conducted six (6) regional public meetings to provide additional opportunity for the Black community to participate in content validation. Meeting schedule included:
|
Date |
Location |
|
October 11, 2011 |
The California Endowment, Downtown Los Angeles |
|
October 12, 2011 |
South Central Los Angeles, Maxine Waters Center |
|
October 17, 2011 |
Riverside, The DuBois Institute |
|
October 18, 2011 |
San Diego, Cesar Chavez Multicultural Center |
|
October 27, 2011 |
San Francisco, African American Art and Culture Complex |
|
October 29, 2011 |
Sacramento, Double Tree Hotel |
A special thank you, to SPW members and community collaborative partners that worked closely to assist in coordinating local public meetings sites, and outreach to invite attendees.
At the public meetings participants were asked to provide input on three (3) areas of the report: the content, community practices that are meaningful to African Americans, and recommendations to the State of California for consideration in the CRD Strategic Plan. All information recommended to be included in the report was requested to be submitted in writing. The public meetings were tape recorded.
November 2011: After compiling all public written comments received, information was sent to the data analysis team and writing team for review and inclusion in the report. The teams will be meeting in November and December for interpretation of findings and to finalize the African American Population Report. Analysts and writing team members are consumers, client, client family members, community advocates, as well as SPW diverse professionals including researchers. As always, ANY additional information you wish to be considered for the report, please email as an attachment to CorporateOffice@AAHI-SBC.org or mail to AAHI-SBC, P.O. Box 12083, San Bernardino, CA 92423.
Our final African American Population Report is scheduled for release before December 31, 2011.
The last quarter of the CRDP contract (December 2011, January and February 2012) will involve continual collaboration to develop the state CRD Strategic Plan, and to disseminate the final African American Population Report. Please reference our Dissemination Plan under the “Events” page of the AAHI-SBC website.
With appreciation,
Dr. V. Diane Woods, Project Director
Updated November 15, 2011
June 2011
Where are we at this point?
For the past six months, from January 2011 to June 2011, the African American SPW has been well into Phase II. During Phase II we began analyzing data, editing our report, and reporting preliminary results of community-defined practices.
To read more, click the image below....
January 2011
Background
In 2009, the California Department of Mental Health released a RFP called California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP): African American Population Report. The goal of the CRDP Project was to develop a statewide strategic action plan to reduce mental and behavioral health disparities in five populations in California: African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Latinos, LBGTQ, and Native Americans. To accomplish the project objective each population was to develop strategic planning workgroups (SPW).
The African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County (AAHI-SBC), a non-profit, 501c3, was one of the successful awardees for the African American population project. The AAHI-SBC contract is contract #09-79055-006 with a start date of March 1, 2010 to February 28, 2012. Year-1 budget was $219,000, and Year-2 budget was $191,711.
AAHI-SBC is using a broad representation of people of African descent to develop the project and to create the required population report. People of African descent includes African Americans, Continental Africans, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinos, and African any other nationality that live in California. All Black people are welcome to participate in the project.
How will we get the job done?
The African American CRDP Project is using a community based approach to engage the participation of all people of African descent, that have an interest in mental and behavioral health to be a part of this statewide effort. This is an “inclusive” process. Every person on the workgroup identified their “community affiliations.” We have several individuals on our project from each of the 5 regions in California. We wanted to make sure every region was represented on the project and that each region would give input about their needs. You can find the entire list of project members on page 7 of the “Communication Plan” for this project. The “Communication Plan” is available for download. Look at the link below.
The RFP required the project to use community defined evidence to create the strategic plans.
What is community defined evidence?
Community Defined Evidence (CDE): The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse
Prevention (SAMHSA), The National Network for Eliminating Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and yes, the California Department of Mental Health, Office of Multicultural Services (CRDP FACT Sheet, 2010, and in the AAHI-SBC contract), all agree on a basic definition of CDE. Basically:
“CDE is a set of practices that communities have used and found to yield positive results as determined by community consensus over time. These practices may or may not have been measured empirically (by a scientific process) but, have reached a level of acceptance by the community. CDE takes a number of factors into consideration, including a population’s worldview and historical and social contexts that are culturally rooted. It is not limited to clinical treatments or interventions. CDE is a complement to Evidence Based Practices and Treatments, which emphasize empirical testing of practices and do not often consider cultural appropriateness in their development or application.”The CRDP Project is also a strategic planning process. What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning requires gathering ALL available information on a subject, and then make recommendations based on the information gathered. Our subject is mental and behavioral health prevention and early intervention (PEI) with the people of African descent living in California.
What information have we gathered to date?
See the Project Deliverables Timeline link below.
December 2009 to May 2010: Project pre-planning
June 2010 to December 2010: Section Groups: Every workgroup member has had the opportunity to bring whatever information was relevant to develop the background sections of this report. The Section Groups worked from June 2010 until December 2010 to gather any and all information they felt appropriate. This is community input.
August 2010 to November 2010: Statewide Focus Groups conducted
October 2010 to January 2011: Editing background information for the report
December 2010 to January 2011: Begin data analysis of focus groups
November 2010 to January 2011: Gathering different inventories about African American mental and behavioral health program and interventions, providers, and resources
Regional Consultants: We have 5 Regional Consultants. Each Regional Consultant has a critical role to make sure that the voices of their region were included in this process. The Regional Consultant identified that they knew what was going on in their region and with the African American community related to mental and behavioral health. The Regional Consultants were the primary person to identify how many and where focus groups were to take place in their region. They were the primary person to identify and recruit whoever they felt was appropriate to participate in the focus groups. This is community input.
Clients & Family Members: Our client and family members are primary consumers of mental and behavioral health. We have several clients and family members that are extremely active on our SPW, as well as special advisors to this project. They have scheduled focus groups, recruited people to participate in the focus groups, and identified key informants to have one-on-one meetings with me. We had over 200 consumers to participate in our focus groups. Our client and family members have given critical information about this subject matter. They have attended all our SPW meetings, both in person and on telephone calls. Recruiting and conducting focus groups was a critical portion of this project. The Regional Consultant attempted to have diverse participants in their focus groups. Focus Groups were limited only because of limited funds for this project implementation. This is community input.
One-on-One Interviews: We are scheduled to start one-on-one interviews around mid-February. The intent is to obtain additional information that was discussed in the focus groups. NOTE: If anyone has the names of individuals they wish to have a one-on-one interview, please email me the name and contact information to CorporateOffice@AAHI-SBC.org. This is community input.
Data Analysis Team: Several consumers will serve on the data analysis team. All SPW members receive honorariums for services rendered. The consumer on the data analysis team must commit to at least 3-months; it will take about that long for data analysis. This is community input.
Public Meetings or Validation Focus Groups: To be determined (TBD) at a later date after the data is analyzed
Dr. V. Diane Woods, Project Director
updated January 19, 2011
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
April 27, 2010 Project Planning Meeting, San Bernardino, CA
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 1, 2010 California Statewide Workgroup Meeting, Sacramento, CA
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
August 13-15, 2010 Statewide Workgroup Retreat, Oakland, CA
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
September 25, 2010 Training Meeting 9:00am - 3:00pm Riverside, CA
UC Riverside Department of Psychology
Applying African-Centered Concepts by Dr. Thomas Parham
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
March 24, 2011 Statewide SPW Member Planning Meeting, San Bernardino, CA 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Powerpoint Document |
