Agenda - 09-07-1999 - 9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. In year two of the project increase interagency participation to four community-wide celebratory events (such as: Apple Chill, Hog Day, Festa del Pueblo, Cinco de Mayo, Kwanza), and one mass canvass/outreach event (such as Hope for IGds' Annual Big Event); 5. At {east one comprehensive health promotion/screening event for preschoolers will take place in collaboration with community agencies during year one, arid at least 3 during year two; 6. Referrals to service agencies will document an increase in utilization based upon case-finding and promotional efforts of this project; 7. Mechanisms to record and measure changes in referrals and utilization of services based upon project efforts will be improved, operationalized and formalized by the agencies irnolved. Consumer Involvement and Satisfaction: There are two consumer groups whose irnolvement and satisfaction will be critical. Families of young children who are served at community. celebratory events or specially organized screening campaigns will be polled for their reactions to the .health promotion and/or screening activities that are offered. The human service agencies in Orange County who provide health-related services to families with preschool children will be polled for their assessment of the effectiveness of the project in improving outreach and services to "hard-to-reach" populations. Evaluation: Several measures can be tracked to evaluate the effectiveness of The Community Health Awareness Project. The unduplicated numbers of preschool children who are screened will be measured and tracked over time. This will be compared to the number of children in unregistered childcare settings who have received health-promotion and/or screening in previous years. The impact of the project's community education and promotional efforts will also be evaluated through mechanisms to record and measure changes in referral and service utilization by at least four key agencies including: Child Services Coordination, The Developmental Evaluation Center, OPC Area Programs, Family Resource Centers and the. Head Start programs. Budget Narrative: Although community agencies acknowledge that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", there have not been community resources to support the type of community health awareness activities needed to effectively reach the "unreached" and "underserved". This project will piggyback onto current community events to minimize publicity costs and to maximize use of "volunteer" professional time. This project coordinator wilt work closely with other local projects such as Prevent Blindness, Dental Screening, Child Service Coordination, OCPYC community development staff, members of the Orange County Preschool Interagency Council, and others to avoid duplication of services. No other state or federal funds are known to be available for this activity in our community. As noted above, effective outreach requires more than handing out pamphlets and magnets. Therefore, this budget provides (service related supplies) funds to provide creative, fun, and culturally relevant incentives and promotional tools to capture the attention of the targeted population". The Executive Director of Hope for Kids has offered to support this project by making available his agency's volunteer force for local outreach activities. We anticipate this to average 40 volunteer hours each month. Additional in-kind contributions salary of the program supervisor, office supplies, telephone, and office fumlture. Also, the Dental Division of the Health Department has offered office space and a computer at its Carr Mill Mall site for this project's use. Salary justification: the proposed salary is at a level that allows us to attract a professional with extensive experience in public relations and health education work This person needs to be able to function independently as to not further drain the health professionals that are on the front line delivering services. We want the professionals serving the targeted population to view this project as an asset to themselves as well as offering the community a new approach to reaching families of preschoolers and the "historicaNy hard to reach". The total personnel services amount includes the coordinator's nine-month salary, including fringe benefits and 10% overhead for administrative and grant accounting personnel support.