Overcoming language barriers by building the data capacity of Spanish-speaking community leaders: Evaluation of the Datos y Democracia Statewide California Training Initiative

With few training and capacity building opportunities available in Spanish, there is a great need for skill building among community leaders and community-based organizations (CBOs) serving Spanish-speaking communities throughout California. To address this need, Datos y Democracia aimed to build the data capacity of these CBOs in their native language. To achieve this, three-day courses using a linguistically and culturally adapted curriculum were offered in three regions, targeting CBOs serving local underserved Spanish-speaking communities. The course, based on a train-the-trainer model, focused on planning and conducting a community health assessment, and provided training and technical assistance in order to train others from the same curriculum. METHODS: Evaluation was designed to capture the impact of this capacity building project using pre-post and follow-up surveys. RESULTS: Course participants included bilingual and monolingual community leaders, many of whom were promotoras and program staff. Sixty percent of the 58 course participants trained another 315 Spanish-speaking community leaders. The majority of course participants (96%) reported curriculum and activities relevant and important to their work. Course components, materials, trainers, and resources were rated highly, ranging from 4.35 to 4.85 on a Likert scale from 0 to 5 (where 5 is “excellent”). Course participants demonstrated increased self-efficacy in all nineteen course skills, particularly new skills such as data collection and analysis methods. Participants also reported intentions to use course content and materials in ongoing community work. By providing capacity building opportunities in Spanish, more community leaders were given access to essential tools to improve their community's health.