Be Fruitful and Multiply or Not! Collaborations with Faith Based Organizations and Title X Family Planning Providers

The California Family Health Council,Inc.'s (CFHC) Faith Based Community Outreach Partners Project (FBCO) was established to create collaborations and partnerships between faith based organizations and Title X Family Planning Providers in California in order to increase community knowledge of reproductive health, provide medically accurate abstinence based education and referrals to family planning and clinical services to high risk target populations. Nine participating FBCO organizations partner with a local Title X funded family planning provider to develop individualized outreach, education, education materials, counseling and referral for clinical services strategies targeting the high risk populations they serve. Now in its sixth year of funding, participating FBCO organizations have evolved in their sophistication of grant proposal preparation,increased their knowledge of the scope of reproductive health care by technical assistance offered by CFHC and their Title X Partners and participated in CFHC'S Basic Health Worker Course. Utilization of these resources have enabled the Faith based organizations to more effectively implement their unique programs by expanding outreach to high risk target populations(homeless, LEP individuals, recent immigrants, drug abusing individuals and migrant workers). The FBCO's are uniquely suited to address social and medical issues with a focus on faith, spiritual needs, ethics and compassion and through the technical assistance and training provided have expanded their understanding of the scope of reproductive health and health care. The evaluation component of the project includes quantitative and qualitative data that includes surveys of the participants of the individualized programs, FBCO and Partner staff.