Office of Minority Health

State Partnership Grant Program to Improve Minority Health

Grantee
Michigan Department of Community Health
Lansing, MI 48913-2014
Project: Building Organization Capacity to Adopt Enhanced CLAS (BOCA CLAS)
Amount: $149,911

The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is one of 18 state government departments. One of the largest in state government, MDCH is responsible for health policy and management of the state's publicly funded health service systems. About two million Michigan residents will receive services this year that are provided with total or partial support from MDCH.

Project Abstract

Despite decades of funding, Michigan’s racial and ethnic health disparities have not declined significantly. The Building Organization Capacity to Adopt and Implement Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (BOCA-CLAS) project will focus on working with multiple organizations to ensure that policies, programs and implementation strategies are culturally and linguistically tailored in an effort to ensure access to health care and other services for Michigan’s populations of color. The overall goal of the program is to increase the number of organizations within the state that have adopted the enhanced National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care (National CLAS Standards).

The BOCA-CLAS project will feature four components:

· Adoption of the National CLAS standards by the seven grantee organizations through a signed memoranda of understanding

· Implementation of the National CLAS standards within the seven grantee organizations through the provision of an evidence-based training module

· Training of grantee organizations to train identified partner organizations in adoption of National CLAS standards

· Adoption and implementation of the National CLAS Standards by identified partner organizations

The long-term intended outcomes of the BOCA-CLAS project are to:

· Establish a framework for organizations to adopt and implement the National CLAS Standards through the provision of an evidence-based curriculum

· Increase the awareness and skills of government, health care and community-based organizations and other stakeholders to understand and address social determinants of health in relation to racial/ethnic health disparities

· Strengthen the leadership and capacity of government and community organizations to develop and sustain effective partnerships and programs to address social determinants of health in order to improve racial/ethnic health inequities

To evaluate the effectiveness of their intervention, the BOCA-CLAS project will conduct a process and outcome evaluation using a variety of performance measures and pre-/post- tests.

Objectives

• Increased awareness, education and outreach to address racial/ethnic minority health and health disparities problems
• Improved access to, and appropriate utilization of, health and other community-based services and systems through user-centered design for racial/ethnic minorities (e.g., health IT, culturally/ linguistically appropriate services, service provider education/ training, workforce diversity)
• Strengthened leadership and coordination to leverage resources and enhance effectiveness and efficiency of individual and collective efforts (including, but not limited to, research and data)

Healthy People 2020 objectives toward which the project’s results contribute:

The project’s core objectives align with the Healthy People 2020 goals to eliminate health disparities among segments of the population; achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups; and create social and physical environments that promote good health for all.