Successes and challenges in developing a culture of advocacy among patients and staff of a multicultural and multiethnic organization

Asian Health Services (AHS) is a community health center that provides medical services, health education, and insurance counseling to low-income limited English speaking Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community members. To ensure that local, state, and federal policies benefit the API communities it serves, AHS recently committed to strengthening its capacity to empower its 17,000 patients, the majority who are immigrants, to voice their unique health needs to policymakers while building advocacy leadership among its 175 staff of medical providers, health educators, and administrative staff. To sustain advocacy efforts, AHS further committed to raising a $1 million endowment to establish an advocacy infrastructure to: 1) foster patient leadership development, 2) strengthen staff capacity to provide client advocacy, and 3) create a mechanism for mobilizing Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Cambodian, Laotian, Mien, and other small emerging API communities. Central to building an advocacy infrastructure were the institution of Patient Leadership Councils; creation of an organizational Advocacy Committee; participation in legislative activities promoting public policy initiatives that increase API community members access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services; and implementation of staff educational sessions on key community issues and relevant policies in collaboration with other community based organizations and community members. This session will detail the lessons learned, issues faced, and successes achieved and challenges in AHS' efforts to weave, instill, and embed a culture of advocacy based on community organizing principles within its organization.