Recorded presentation

Jill C. Morrison, JD, Health and Reproductive Rights, National Women's Law Center, 11 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, 202-588-7616, jmorrison@nwlc.org

Reproductive health advocacy organizations have struggled to fill a void in our efforts to increase access. The communities of color most often and severely affected by restrictions on family planning services, preventive care, diagnosis and treatment, are very often not at the forefront of efforts to preserve or increase access. Furthermore, these communities often do not have information about the range or availability of services, or are not aware of restrictions imposed by providers.

In order to build better communications and foster a productive working relationship with more diverse partners, MergerWatch and the National Women's Law Center approached the NAACP's national office about addressing restrictions on reproductive health care in communities with NAACP branches. This led to a series of focus groups with state and local chapters on how to discuss these issues within a civil rights and community health framework, and to identify and overcome barriers to partnerships between traditional women's rights and reproductive rights organizations, such as the National Women's Law Center and the NAACP.

The focus groups yielded many surprises for both the NAACP and the National Women's Law Center. Building on this information, the partners have developed a work plan to be presented at many of the NAACP's regional conferences through March and April of 2004. At APHA, staff from the National Women's Law Center hope to present both the focus group findings and a report of activities within the NAACP's local branches on advancing reproductive health access.

Learning Objectives: Attendees will learn how to

• Develop a plan for coalition building with new partners using community-based information.
• Identify barriers to partnerships between organizations with very different goals by identify areas of common interest.
• Help communities identify their own health care access needs, and then provide the information, resources, strategies to meet these needs.

Keywords: African American, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation