We're in!

Grantee Information

Tapestry Health Systems, Inc.
320 Riverside Drive, Florence, MA 01062-2757
(413) 586-2016 (Phone)
(413) 586-0212 (Fax)

Tapestry Health Systems has more than 25 years of experience providing HIV/AIDS education, prevention, screening, support services and community training programs. Tapestry Health has special expertise and experience planning and conducting HIV/AIDS outreach and education programs targeted at certain at-risk populations.

Grant Project Information

Hampden County HIV/AIDS Partnership
$225,000
Hutson Inniss
(413) 586-2016
hinniss@tapestryhealth.org

Abstract

The purpose of the Hampden County HIV/AIDS Partnership is to develop and improve the coordination and capacity among 12 provider agencies that serve minority populations impacted by HIV/AIDS to deliver a continuum of comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and support services for Hampden County – focusing on meeting the needs of reentry populations, women in transition, individuals with mental health disorders and people with a history of substance abuse. The partnership will focus on these populations because HIV/AIDS affects a disproportionate amount of these populations in the target area. The partnership plans to implement the following strategies, practices or interventions:

• Community-wide mobilization and capacity building,
• Collaborative and coordinated organizational development assistance targeted to minority-serving Hampden County agencies,
• Extensive staff development and training programs to increase service capacity and sustainability of agencies and
• Support for the maintenance of local networks to build a comprehensive HIV/AIDS education care and treatment system.

• The degree to which the program delivers a continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and support,
• The degree that organizational capacity increased among clients,
• The sustainability of programs,
• The most effective technical assistance strategies and
• The role of the partnership in developing this type of sustainable system of care.

The project will use an independent evaluator to perform community and organizational needs assessments to obtain data for process evaluation, and will use quantitative and qualitative outcome data to measure the impact of the project on the objectives. Specifically, the evaluator will collect data through the use of individual interviews, community impact focus groups, partnership records, demographic data, individual staff surveys, and agency capacity surveys. The goal of the evaluation is to measure the extent that the partnership strengthened the capacity of Hampden County providers.

• Increased awareness, education, & outreach to address racial/ethnic minority health & health disparities problems
• Improved access to, and appropriate utilization of, health & 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)