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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Joel S. Meister, PhD, Professor¹, Leticia Gomez², Rebecca Garza, PhD², Noemi Garcia², Deborah Jean McClelland, MLS¹, and Jill De Zapien¹. (1) Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210228, Tucson, AZ 85724, 520-318-7270, ext. 19, jmeister@u.arizona.edu, (2) Migrant Health Promotion, Inc., P.O. Box 337, Progreso, TX 78579

The REACH 2010 Promotora Community Coalition project in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas began in 2000 with a series of community forums that led to the selection of diabetes prevention and control for this CDC-sponsored project. After four years of a multiple-component intervention, the project promotoras (i.e. CHW's) planned a follow-up series of forums in the three intervention communities to 1) Disseminate REACH 2010 results to community members and elected leaders 2) Solicit feedback from the community, 3) Generate ideas and recommendations for next steps, 4) Obtain the public commitment of elected leaders to support future policy and program initiatives, 5) Recruit new volunteers to join the REACH Coalition, and 6) Develop and implement a strategic action plan for the Valley following the forums. Upon completion of the forums, the promotoras presented the results to the REACH Coalition. The Coalition then conducted a planning process to identify and prioritize those issues to be pursued in the project's policy change/environmental shift stage. This stage is a core element of the REACH 2010 logic model of change. This presentation will present the process and outcomes of the community forums and the strategic plan development process of the REACH 2010 Coalition.

Learning Objectives: Participants will learn how to

• Organize a community forum to maximize community participation;
• Use community-based participatory research results to provide feedback at a community forum;
• Develop strategic action priorities with community members at the community forum.

Keywords: Advocacy, Community Participation

Related Web page: www.publichealth.arizona.edu

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered