Annette L. Gardner, PhD, MPH¹, Sara Peterson, MPH¹, Claire Brindis, DrPH², and Astrid Hendricks-Smith, PhD³. (1) Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143, (415) 514-1543, algard@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143, (3) Evaluation Unit, The California Endowment, 21650 Oxnard Street, Suite 1200, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

This presentation describes the results from Year 1 of the Clinic Consortia Policy and Advocacy Program Evaluation conducted by the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2001, 19 California community clinic consortia received three years of funding from The California Endowment to expand their policy and advocacy activities. In 2003, UCSF evaluated these activities two ways: 1) grantees described and assessed their activities and 2) UCSF administered a Policymaker Awareness Survey to 86 California policymakers and community leaders. Year 1 Study Findings indicate that consortia engaged in a broad range of activities that vary by grantee geographic focus and age. This increased grantee capacity translated into legislative and local policy “wins” in 2002, despite major barriers such as the constrained state budget. Cultivating policymaker relations, engaging in policymaking activities, and working in partnerships with allies and constituents were all reported to be necessary for achieving policy outcomes. More activities were perceived to contribute to increased policymaker awareness than to increased funding for clinics or to achieving a policy change. Policymakers and community leaders were “very familiar” with the grantees and clinic policy issues and “somewhat familiar” with consortia and clinic activities. Grantees successfully increased policymaker and community leader awareness of how community clinics meet the health care needs of underserved populations, and are considered to be “very effective” at addressing these needs. The findings suggest that support to increase capacity can positively impact organizations representing marginalized populations in the policymaking arena.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will increase their knowledge of California clinic consortia and their strategies to increase access to care for clinic populations in the policymaking arena
• Participants will learn about evaluation techniques for inventorying and assessing policymaking and advocacy strategies
• The implications for decision-makers (policymakers, funders) will be discussed

Keywords: Public Policy, Advocacy

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.