Recorded presentation

Cindie Carroll-Pankhurst, PHD, MPA¹, Bill Tiedemann, MSW², and Wendy Johnson, MD². (1) Carroll Public Health Consulting, 2490 Lee Blvd. Suite 201, Cleveland, Hts, OH 44118, 216.320.1840, cxc15@po.cwru.edu, (2) Cleveland Department of Public Health, 1925 St Clair Ave., cleveland, OH 44114

In August of 2003, The City of Cleveland Department of Public Health- HIV/AIDS Unit and The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health and Science; Office of Minority Health, entered into an agreement to implement a Rapid Assessment Response and Evaluation Project for the Cleveland region. Utilizing key components of the community planning process qualitative RARE methodology with the addition of quantitative data analyses including GIS mapping and Vital Statistics; staff, community members, private and public organizations convened to prioritize population groups. After a series of meetings, the community working group concluded that Cleveland’s Latino/a community showed numerous indicators that supported a RARE project intervention. Learning Objectives: • Briefly describe the Cleveland RARE project, including outcomes and action plan. • Describe key components of the community planning process and articulate why meaningful public and private involvement is critical to improve the overall service delivery system to populations at- risk within a minority community. • Describe the value of qualitative RARE methodology with the addition of quantitative data analyses including the use of GIS mapping and Vital Statistics. • Evaluate outcomes of RARE project through analyzing strategic interventions for reducing HIV in a minority community that is beset with cultural, psychosocial, and religious barriers that perpetuate health disparities.

Learning Objectives: