Reaching Underserved
Communities
Jenny Lee, Moderator, UF Center for Arts
in Medicine
Panelists
Joe Taylor, Coordinator, Weems Arts in
Medicine & Executive Director, Franklin’s
Promise Coalition
Javier Rosado, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
FSU Medical Humanities & Clinical
Psychologist, Collier Health Services
Identifying the Underserved
•
WHAT IS COMMUNITY?
• WHO ARE THE UNDERSERVED?
• WHERE ARE THE GAPS?
• HOW DO WE CONNECT THOSE IN NEED
WITH THEIR RESOURCES?
What is Community?
STRATEGIC PLANNING
– AND ESPECIALLY YOUR MISSION –
WILL HELP TO DEFINE YOUR SCOPE & REACH.
Underserved Communities
 People: Who are the People in your Neighborhood?
o Socioeconomic factors
o Health status
o Risk profiles
o Cultural and ethnic makeup
o Geographical location: Get Out the Map.
o Neighborhoods
o Travel Distance
o Transportation
o Connectivity: Connect the Dots.
o Services and programs
o Leadership – formal and informal authority
o Levels of community engagement – existing structures
Resource: www.ncoengage.org
People
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE IN YOUR
NEIGHBORHOOD?
Geographic Region
GET OUT THE MAP!
Connectivity
CONNECT THE DOTS.
Approaches to Locating
Underserved Communities
• Aggregate social indicators from existing data (needs
assessment) such as: occupation, education, income, fertility
rate, women who work, single family dwelling units, & ethnicity
• Identify barriers to access (needs assessment)
• Socioeconomic status
• Geographic distance
• Health status
• Identify referral sources (community resource mapping);
know who ‘knows’ – word of mouth, organizational referrals
Think Big. Start Small.
•C o m m u n i t y c h a n g e i s a c o m p l e x p r o c e s s t h a t r e q u i r e s t i m e .
•E f f e c t i v e c h a n g e t a k e s p l a c e p r i m a r i l y t h r o u g h r e l a t i o n s h i p s .
Relationships take time.
•R e s p e c t , s u p p o r t a n d e n c o u r a g e t h o s e b e i n g a s k e d t o c h a n g e .
(education, training, retreats, mentoring, incentives, etc)
•B u i l d b r i d g e s a c r o s s d i s c i p l i n e s .
•R e c o g n i z e t h a t c o o r d i n a t i n g e x i s t i n g s e r v i c e s m a y n o t b e e n o u g h .
•S O C I A L P R O B L E M S A N D N E E D S A R E N O T D I S T R I B U T E D
EQUALLY IN GEOGRAPHIC SPACE; FOR EXAMPLE, COUNTY
STATISTICS MAY NOT REFLECT THE NEEDS IN SOME
UNDERSERVED POCKETS WITHIN THE COUNTY.
Resource: Oregon State University Family Policy Program www.familiesandwork.org