Interns Making Their Mark on Alliance Institute Projects

Three amazing interns have been partnering with Alliance Institute over the last few months, taking time out of their busy school schedules to help out on a number of important projects for the organization.

Operations Intern Takara Turner is finishing up her Sociology Major at Xavier University of Louisiana and will be attending LSUHSC School of Public Health for Health Policy and Systems Management this fall. With an eye toward getting a better idea of the inner workings of how a non-profit is managed, she has been collaborating closely with Alliance Institute Operations Director Jeff Karlson on research and development for some of the organization’s key operations capabilities. In the future, she’s looking to run her own non-profit and have a major impact on public policies that perpetuate health disparities.

Communications Intern Bria Turner (no relation to Takara) is pursuing a Mass Communications Major at LSU and a Minor in Business Administration. Bria brings considerable experience to her internship at Alliance Institute, having worked as a journalist for several local newspapers and magazines in the Baton Rouge area, as a public affairs intern at the Louisiana Dept. of Transportation, and on numerous communications projects with area nonprofits and foundations. In particular, she will be working with Alliance Institute on expanding the organization’s social media strategy.

Community Engagement Intern Debra Williams is a Psychology major at Xavier University of Louisiana. Debra has been assisting La’Keidra Mitchell, a Community Engagement Specialist with Alliance Institute, in developing print and conference materials for the Gulf Region Health Outreach Project (GRHOP) and documenting the community engagement work that has been done since 2010. Following graduation from Xavier, she hopes to continue her education and pursue a Masters in Psychology or Sociology at Howard University.

BP Settlement Emerges from Final Court Review Process, Will Ensure 5-Year Plan to Increase Health Care in Underserved Coastal Communities

The historic preliminary settlement that was reached last year on the BP lawsuit has now emerged from the final stages of court review and a public comment period. This assures that, as part of the overall BP Settlement, the Gulf Regional Health Outreach Program (GRHOP) will be fully funded over the next five years.

“The settlement will bring a dramatic increase in access to quality health care to numerous underserved communities across the Gulf Coast region,” said Stephen Bradberry, Executive Director of Alliance Institute. 

Informed by a series of community meetings sponsored by Alliance Institute following the 2010 BP oil disaster, the GRHOP is a collaborative effort to provide primary, mental, and environmental health care to communities covered by the settlement in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. In addition, the project will provide Community Health Workers and health literacy opportunities for residents living within the settlement target areas.

Full funding of GRHOP will also help to assure the involvement of community residents in the identification of needs, assessments, and on-going evaluation of the health care services to be delivered to coastal communities, and represents an expansion of various non-profit efforts to bring access to health care to these mostly rural and/or underserved communities. As part of the settlement, Alliance Institute will provide funding, training, and technical assistance to non-profit community-based organizations in each targeted state to assure meaningful community participation in the program.

Mobile, AL Training Closes Out "Powerful Facilitation" Series for GRHOP Community Involvement Partners

Staff members from VIET, Hijra House, Boat People SOS, NFEDC and Alliance Institute at the Powerful Facilitation workshop.On January 10-11 in Mobile, AL, Alliance Institute and Global Learning Partners hosted the second of two facilitation workshops for eight leaders from the four participating community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP). GRHOP will help address the health needs of gulf coast residents in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

As part of this effort, the CBOs are expected to host monthly coalition meetings including local and state agencies and health center representatives, as well as monthly community meetings. Alliance Institute wants to support the CBOs to be successful at leading these coalition and community meetings since they will set the stage for a long, growing collaborative process. Global Learning Partners, Alliance Institute’s partner in the trainings, believes in the power of a dialogue approach to planning and facilitating these exchanges. 

Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training (Louisiana), Hijra House (Mississippi), Boat People SOS (Alabama), and North Florida Educational Development Corp. (Florida) participated in the training. The “Powerful Facilitation” series was a part of a larger Alliance Institute effort aimed at strengthening the resilience of the whole Gulf region through community involvement. 

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NFEDC Convenes Healthcare Meetings with Gulf Coast Florida Stakeholders

NFEDC Executive Director Carolyn Ford chairs a GRHOP coalition meeting in Bay County, FL.By Glenda Spears

North Florida Education Development Corporation (NFEDC) was selected as the community based organization to lead the way on the Gulf Regional Health Outreach Program (GRHOP) for the five northwestern Florida counties affected by the BP drilling disaster. Early in the process NFEDC began attending meetings of groups and organizations who were already formed to address particular needs and concerns within their particular communities. This initial outreach allowed NFEDC to become acquainted with many of the people who were already leading the charge around health care and services within the communities they would be charged to work with.

The five county target area – comprising Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Bay – is one of the largest areas covered by GRHOP.  These counties have high concentrations of the working poor, persons who work every day and struggle to make ends meet and provide the basic necessities for their families. GRHOP will help expand health care access to these and other families.

On December 19, 2012, NFEDC and Louisiana Public Health Institute hosted a convening in San Destin, FL of local, area, and state leadership representing health care providers, community service providers, and residents. Participants, numbering over 50, were asked to identify the top ten community health needs and barriers to getting these needs meet.  There was a great deal of work done by the group in a short period of time and several new partnerships were made to further this great work along.  The efforts of NFEDC have begun the critical ground work necessary for the success of the program, and everyone is excited about what this will mean for the people of Florida.