2018-751-E Finance - The Art Therapy Institute performance agreement

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DocuSign Envelope ID:4FF28E49-EE56-4A40-9331-F55AA8A05998 EXHIBIT A: PROVIDER'S OUTSIDE AGENCY APPLICATION to their communities. Newcomer women and children face a unique set of challenges as they resettle to North Carolina. Art therapy allows newcomers to cultivate healing and health even when they are not able to fully communicate their experience with words. By providing newcomers with the affordable and culturally-responsive support and counseling they need and deserve, this program helps newcomers achieve their goals, thrive in their new homes, and build important relationships within their wider communities. Additionally, while the group services require ongoing grant funding, these groups are instrumental in providing ongoing social support that builds important social skills, normalizes and validates newcomers' experiences, and decreases debilitating social isolation. Describe what would happen if requested funding is not awarded at all or if a reduced allocation is recommended. ATI is committed to providing art therapy services to newcomer adults and children regardless of the funding amount awarded by the towns and counties. ATI works hard to maintain and build sustainability in all of its programming, as evidenced by the fact that when ATI unexpectedly lost $27,000 in CHCCS funding for 2017-2018, ATI ramped up fundraising efforts and increased private donation and foundation grant support by 400% over previous years. Unfortunately, some of these foundation grants can only be awarded for one year, and CHCCS funding has not yet been reinstated for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, which is why we are requesting increased funding from the towns and counties, so that we can continue to serve our community's most vulnerable populations. What percentage of your target population is low-moderate income? 100%! What efforts do you make to seek feedback about your program from your target population (e.g. survey, evaluations, etc.?) Beyond the research evaluations ATI conducts every year to monitor the mental health and social functioning of our clients (see SMART goals for more information), ATI also surveys teachers and clients about their experiences with the program. Finally, ATI also surveys community art show attendees who view the client artwork and stories to evaluate how the program impacts community perceptions of newcomers. Include any other pertinent information. As mentioned above, in addition to sharing evaluation results, resources, and best practices with the greater community, ATI is honored to share the stories of newcomer clients through their artwork and words. Every year, ATI hosts a Spring art show, free to the public, where newcomer clients are invited to display their artwork and stories. ATI is proud to use our art therapy programming to help the newcomer community tell their stories and make connections within the greater community. Previous surveys of show attendees indicate that these types of art shows can help decrease anti-newcomer sentiment. ATI also works to strengthen knowledge of newcomers through presenting at national conferences such as The American Art Therapy Association, the Association of Licensed Professional Counselors, the North American Refugee Health Conference, and the American Public Health Association conferences, and through publishing peer reviewed journal articles on best practices in supporting mental health for newcomers. Funding ATI in our evaluation work could not only improve the lives of newcomers locally, but also nationally, as we disseminate the results of our work. We credit our funders who make this work possible in all presentations, publications, and communications with our community, helping to raise the profile of funders who enable us do this critical work. Finally, in addition to quantitative research measures, ATI is committed to conducting anti- oppressive, participatory action research (PAR) with newcomer clients. PAR has been touted as being more respectful, ethical, culturally-appropriate, and efficient in gauging the needs of newcomer community members and making sure newcomers are active participants in research that is conducted by and for them. PROGRAM INFORMATION 1/23/2018 10:01:04 AM P a g e 1 7 o f 2 4