community + research + education + awareness
INSIDE FRONT COVER
CREA Results
c ommunity + r esearch + e ducation + a wareness
CREA Results is a grassroots, social enterprise created by Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers to mobilize and engage the Latino community in strategic partnerships with public and private agencies to promote public health, environmental, economic and social well-being. www.crearesults.org | 720-495-3180 | Denver, CO
My sister Diana and I founded CREA Results in 2006. We built this organization because we believed in the power of promotores de salud to empower people to improve their health, environment and quality of life. We believe now, as we did in the beginning, that empowered individuals are the building blocks of strong communities — communities that are engaged in eliminating health disparities, environmental poverty and degradation through local action. We are a powerful flock. CREA has grown into a unique social enterprise with multiple partners in many sectors. We are always learning from our efforts to holistically engage people, families, communities and businesses within the complicated context of public and environmental health, service delivery, health care access, health promotion, disease prevention and education. We are always striving to do more, to do better. When we were living in Mexico, one day sitting at the table with our grandfather, he told us, “Do what you love and if you are good at it, the money will come—and, if you are not that good, at least you are going to have a lot of fun”. Well, so far we are making a living as promotores de salud. And fun, we are having it. Every day!
1
Fernando Pineda-Reyes
Diana Pineda-Ford
Promotor de Salud
Promotora de Salud
CEO, CREA Results
COO, CREA Results
2
is a community-based grassroots organization created in 2006 by promotores de salud (community health workers). Our philosophy, “We meet people where they are… but we don’t leave them there,” encapsulates our passion for engaging community members in positive initiatives and strategic partnerships that ultimately influence change. The name, “CREA Results”, is representative of several of our core values. “CREA” stands for Community + Research + Education + Awareness. “Results” was added to emphasize CREA’s commitment to seeing projects through to fulfillment and generating tangible outcomes. We are a small organization with a big reach. We have worked on more than 50 projects throughout the region and currently participate in several national initiatives including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Steering Committee on Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers. We have nearly 20 years of experience in a variety of sectors and are recognized by numerous clients for our strategic planning, research, outreach, campaign design, facilitation, data collection, project implementation, evaluation and report services.
3
CREA Results is an innovative, asset-driven social enterprise created by Latino immigrants and promotores de salud to generate social value for our community. We strive to deliver efficient, professional and cutting edge programming with vision, transparency and integrity. Our work spans the public and environmental health spectrum, with an overarching goal of improving the disparities in our communities that prevent us from living the healthiest lives possible. These disparities exist in all sectors including physical and mental health, health care, education and environmental justice. CREA works to engage la Gente, the People, in creating healthy environments for themselves and their families.
Transforming communities is CREA’s razón de ser, or reason for being. It is part of the DNA of our business. At CREA, we know that facilitating transformation at the community level requires an investment in the individuals who live, work and play in those communities. Our Promotores de Salud model is central to this practice. Recruiting, training and empowering someone to become a promotor/a de salud builds on their individual assets and creates a foundation for social change in the community. CREA specializes in engaging these talented and dedicated individuals in disseminating vital, community-based education and programming. These human investments provide long-term, community capacity that will endure beyond a single program or funding stream.
Community transformation takes, well… a village. Beyond the individual, a community consists of public and private agencies and organizations that often share similar goals and have additional assets to bring to the community. It is here that CREA acts as a cultural broker, helping to align organizational efforts with community priorities and providing a connection and entrée into the community. CREA has worked with numerous agencies throughout the state of Colorado to plan, implement and evaluate community-based public health programs, providing training and engaging communities in implementing effective, neighborhoodbased projects.
4
5
6
Promotores de Salud are lay community health workers who have been educated about community health topics and work in their own communities to promote health, provide education and help connect community members to available resources. As community-based health promoters, promotores facilitate connections between the public health sector, community-based service agencies, and community members.
worship, where they work, where they live and where they play. Most importantly, they know the people and the people know them. CREA builds on this knowledge, integrating community strengths, challenges, needs, and values into successful programs that enhance people’s lives. The Promotores de Salud model truly demonstrates how reaching out to the community can be personal in nature, relevant in context and effective in outcomes.
The Promotores de Salud model of community health programming is unique, progressive and effective for one key reason: we go where the people are. Many community health programs have limited success because they fail to take into account the socioeconomic barriers that prevent people from accessing services. Promotores are able to bypass these barriers by bringing health information and services directly to the community in a culturally respectful manner. Promotores educate people one-on-one, in family settings, at schools, churches, neighborhood meetings, local businesses, and even by going door-todoor. Promotores also facilitate community-based research projects, educate people about clinical trials and teach people the skills to assess and transform their own environments for safety and health.
We specialize in community-wide collaborations involving multiple stakeholders, and have worked on more than 50 projects to provide strategic planning, outreach, data collection, project development, implementation and evaluation services.
Our promotores are intimately familiar with the community. They know the landscape, block-byblock. They know where people shop, where they
Our clients and partners include the American Lung Association of Colorado, Clinica Tepeyac, the University of Colorado Clinical and Translational
7
CREA Results functions as a bridge between the Latino/Hispanic/Chicano Community and health organizations, government, academia and social service systems. We work in the community to facilitate access to services and to increases the community’s capacity for sustainable selftransformation while helping organizations engage communities to improve the quality and cultural relevance of their initiatives.
Sciences Institute, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Colorado Prevention Center, Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance, Colorado Foundation for Public Health and the Environment, Delta Dental, Denver Health and Hospitals, Denver Public Schools, Evolve Communications, Groundwork Denver, LiveWell Colorado, Market Perceptions, the Partnership of Academicians and Communities for Translation (PACT), Place Matters, Rocky Mountain Prevention and Research Center, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Tri-County Health Department, and the University of Colorado Denver, just to name a few. 8
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
We work with our partners to help them navigate Colorado’s diverse communities and to ensure that each initiative is culturally appropriate and relevant to the people they hope to engage.
Our project management experience is extensive and includes oversight of multiple, concurrent projects and funding streams. We are adept at program planning and strategic implementation.
•
Community advisory board recruitment and development
•
Strategic planning
•
Bilingual meeting facilitation
•
Project implementation
•
Consultation to evaluate cultural appropriateness of programs, materials, presentations, etc.
•
Staff recruitment, training and management
•
Budget development and administration
•
Social marketing consultation
•
Reporting and analysis
•
Media and public relations consultation and coordination
•
Linguistic and cultural translation of documents and other materials
•
Real-time translation for meetings and events
•
Coordination of health fairs and other community outreach events
9
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND MOBILIZATION We are well known for our ability to generate a critical mass to respond to emerging issues or opportunities that impact the community. •
Call center services
•
Block organizing and grassroots neighborhood committee development
•
Coalition building
•
Leadership development
•
Event organizing
•
Campaign development
•
Media and public relations coordination
COMMUNITY RESEARCH
COMMUNITY EDUCATION
It is widely understood that research can be more relevant, culturally proficient and effective when conducted in partnership with the community. We have worked with many organizations to assist with study design, recruitment, data collection, program implementation and analysis. We promote community based participatory research practices (CBPR) and always act in what we believe are the best interests of the community. We act cultural brokers to effectively engage communities and researchers while building trust and accountability to improve the quality of the research process.
We have nearly 30 active promotores de salud who are trained to deliver bilingual health education using culturally appropriate terms and concepts. Promotores educate on a variety of health and environmental topics including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma, tobacco control, lead poisoning, oral health, obesity prevention, air and water quality, etc.
•
Identification of community health concerns
•
Study and clinical trial recruitment
•
Study design, recruitment and retention methods
•
Cultural and linguistic assessment and translation of recruitment materials, data collection tools, and consent and dissemination procedures
•
Focus group design, recruitment, and facilitation
•
Data collection, field surveys and community assessments
•
Call center services
•
Health education delivery (door-to-door, churches, schools, health fairs, media, etc.)
•
Educational presentations
•
Discussion panels
•
Group classes
•
Health fairs
•
Home visitation
COMMUNITY SERVICE At CREA, we believe that serving our community is a privilege. We also understand that helping individuals and communities access basic resources such as health care, food, services and housing is critical to our mission of improving the disparities in our community that prevent us from living the healthiest lives possible. •
Certified application assistance site for the Colorado Health Exchange
•
Application assistance for programs such as Medicaid and CHP+
•
Assistance accessing clinical trials
•
Risk factor screening, counseling, support and follow-up 10
Just a few of our many ongoing projects...
COMMUNITY HEART HEALTH ACTIONS FOR SENIOR LATINOS AT RISK The Colorado Prevention Center enlisted CREA to plan, coordinate and implement the CHARLAR program in Northwest Denver. Funded in part by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Office of Health Disparities and the Colorado Health Foundation, CHARLAR is a 12-week physical activity and nutrition program that aims to build healthier lifestyles in older adult Latinos. CREA, in direct collaboration with other project partners, has been responsible for planning and implementation activities including developing a Community Advisory Committee (CAC), performing a neighborhood assessment and conducting community focus groups. We performed a literature review to gather data about existing program models and curricula and worked with the community to adapt the curriculum to their specific needs. We developed an evaluation plan and oversaw the development of culturally-appropriate data collection tools. We created a strategic outreach plan that leveraged our relationships in the community to recruit and engage program participants. We hired a team of promotores and trained them to deliver the curriculum through weekly classes at select Denver neighborhood locations. We worked with our promotores to collect baseline data and refine the program based on participant needs and experiences. We have successfully engaged more than 1,000 people in this initiative.
11
NOVELA ENCRUCIJADA: SIN SALUD NO HAY NADA (WITHOUT HEALTH, THERE IS NOTHING) The Encrucijada project began in 2007 as a collaboration between Evolve Communications, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, CHP+ Marketing and Entravision Communications and Univision Colorado, to use a telenovela, a Spanishlanguage soap opera, to educate Spanish speakers about health, wellness, disease prevention and navigating the public healthcare system. Univision aired weekly episodes of the series, during which a toll-free number was promoted to provide information on a variety of community services, and to connect callers to CHP+ Application Assistance Centers all over Colorado. CREA Results was engaged to develop, staff and manage the call center operations. We trained a team of 12 promotores to man the phones, offering direct support, referral and navigation services to families seeking access to health care. Our promotores have managed 6,560 calls through the call center over the last five years.
ORAL HEALTH PROMOTION & OUTREACH PROGRAM The oral health outreach program is a partnership between CREA Results, Live Well Colorado and the Delta Dental Colorado Foundation. The goal of the program is to educate Denver’s Latino community about healthy eating, physical activity
and the importance of incorporating good oral health habits into their lives. CREA Resuts trained a team of promotores de salud to provide one-on-one education, group classes, home visits, heath fairs and media outreach.
CULTURE OF WELLNESS IN PRESCHOOLS CREA Results is working with the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center and other partners to increase physical activity and healthy eating habits among preschool students, staff and parents in 26 Denver-area Head Start Centers. CREA’s promotores de salud deliver personalized weight and BMI screenings and heart risk assessments to parents and kids, promote project activities, and connect families with local resources.
BREAST CANCER EDUCATION, SCREENING AND NAVIGATION CREA works closely with Colorado’s public health agencies and the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to educate Latinas about breast cancer, navigate them into screening and enroll them in appropriate assistance programs. CREA has provided education to more than 3,500 women in various community settings. More than 1,500 women also received one-on-one navigation and more than 1,000 received mammograms.
12
13