Make It Work! Building the Capacity of CBOs & HDsImplementing Interventions in African American Communities

1. Make It Work!
Building the Capacity of CBOs & HDs
Implementing Interventions in African
American Communities
Camille A. Abrahams, M.S.
African American Capacity Building Assistance Initiative
a program of the Harm Reduction Coalition
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2. Harm Reduction Coalition
 Founded in 1994 to work with individuals and communities at
risk for HIV infection due to drug use and high-risk sexual
behaviors.
 Committed to reducing drug-related harm by initiating and
promoting local, regional and national harm reduction education,
interventions and community organizing
 Offer specific expertise in how to best incorporate the principles
of health and safety promotion for drug users.
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3. HRC Programs & Services
 Policy Advocacy
 Lifting the Federal Funding Ban on Needle Exchange
 National and Regional Conferences
 Next conference: Miami, November 2008
 The Institute @HRC
 Harm Reduction Training Institute
 Hepatitis C Project
 Skills and Knowledge on Overdose Prevention (SKOOP)
 Anti-Stigma Project
 African American Capacity Building Initiative (AACBI)
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4. Objectives of Roundtable
Discussion
 To increase participants’ awareness about the
successes and challenges faced by a regional, racial/
ethnic specific model of capacity building assistance
(CBA).
 To increase participants’ awareness of the specific
CBA strategies and techniques implemented
effectively by AACBI.
 To encourage dialogue between CBA providers and
consumers that result in best practices in the
effective provision of CBA services in African
American communities.
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5. Introduction
In order for a comprehensive HIV prevention plan
to be successful, community based
organizations and their frontline staff must
have the necessary skills and resources to
respond efficiently and effectively to this
epidemic.
Thus, CBOs must have the capacity to engage
successfully in HIV prevention efforts,
particularly those efforts involving the
implementation of HIV prevention interventions that
have proven to be effective. 5

6. Background
In 2004, the CDC funded various
organizations to provide capacity building
assistance (CBA) in four areas:
 (1) Strengthening Organizational Infrastructure for
HIV Prevention
 (2) Strengthening Interventions for HIV Prevention
 (3) Strengthening Community Access to and
Utilization of HIV Prevention Services
 (4) Strengthening Community Planning for HIV
Prevention
For more information, go to http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/cba/cba.htm
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7. What is CBA?
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8. Capacity Building Assistance (CBA)
HIV prevention capacity building is a process
by which individuals, organizations, and
communities develop abilities to enhance and
sustain HIV prevention efforts.
The goal of capacity building is to foster self-
sufficiency and the self-sustaining ability to
improve HIV prevention programs, processes,
and outcomes.
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9. Capacity Building Assistance (CBA)
Capacity building involves a variety of
delivery mechanisms:
1) technology transfer
2) technical/capacity-building assistance
3) training
4) skills building
5) information dissemination
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10. Overview of AACBI
In 2004, the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC)
received a 5-year grant from the CDC to be a
Focus Area 2 CBA Provider for CBOs and health
departments (HDs) working with African
Americans communities in the North Region.
The African American Capacity Building Initiative
(AACBI), a program of HRC, is a dynamic initiative
aimed at reducing the infection and transmission
rates of HIV/AIDS within African American
communities.
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11. Goals of AACBI
 To strengthen the capacity of community based
organizations and health departments to develop and
implement effective HIV prevention interventions
 To increase the number of persons of African descent
who get tested for HIV and who know their serostatus
 To increase the proportion of HIV infected people of
African descent who are linked to appropriate
prevention, care and treatment services
 To decrease the number of people at risk of acquiring
or transmitting HIV infection
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12. Examples of AACBI CBA
Services
 Adaptation, implementation, quality assurance, and
evaluation of effective HIV prevention interventions for
high-risk seronegatives and HIV positive individuals.
 Training on and adaptation of the Safety Counts and
VOICES/VOCES Diffusion of Effective Behavioral
Interventions (DEBIs).
 Integrating cultural competence and linguistic
appropriateness into HIV prevention intervention
activities.
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13. AACBI Team
 Camille A. Abrahams, Program Director
 Jagadisa-devasri Dacus, Senior Director of Training and Capacity
Building Programs (part-time)
 Dorcey Jones, CBA Specialist
 Adam Viera, CBA Specialist
 Velvet Lattimore, Program Assistant (part-time)
 Dr. Darrell Wheeler, Behavioral and Social Science Consultant
 Dr. Bernadette Hadden, Evaluation Consultant
 Angela Coleman, Curriculum Writer Consultant
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 AACBI Regional Consultants

14. Lessons Learned
African American Capacity Building
Initiative
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15. Methodology
 Formal/informal interviews with AACBI staff
 Interviews and focus groups with CBA
consumers
 Review of case files that included action plans,
detailed progress notes, Consumer Satisfaction
Surveys, CBA completion forms, and
communications between AACBI and CBA
consumers
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16. Lesson #1:
A team-based approach helps to
ensure effective and efficient
service delivery
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17. Lesson #2:
The CDC’s current CBA request
process may need further
refinement
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18. Lesson #3:
Without relationship building
and open communication,
CBA will not succeed
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19. Lesson #4:
CBA consumers who are proactive,
committed, and have a clear
understanding of their needs
become true collaborators in the
process
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20. Lesson #5:
It is important for organizations to
assess their organizational capacity
before seeking to implement
interventions
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21. Lesson #6:
Understanding the culture and prior
experiences of the
CBA consumers is a prerequisite
for successful work
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22. Lesson #7:
A coordinated effort among CBA
providers is needed to effect
change on a national level
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23. Lesson #8:
Although the CBA process is not
always smooth, the outcome still
can be a success
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24. Lesson #9:
Staff turnover results in loss of
institutional memory and
momentum
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25. Lesson #10:
Short-term CBA successes are
documented, but time will tell
whether long-term results are
achieved
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26. Lesson #11:
CBA consumers need to feel a
sense of empowerment to be able
to sustain their programs after the
CBA provider has left
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27. Lesson #12:
Flexibility is key,
as change is inevitable
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28. Conclusions:
Many of the lessons centered on the need
for open communication and
collaboration between CBA providers,
CBA consumers, CDC program officers,
and CDC program consultants in order to
ensure efficient and effective capacity
building.
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29. Conclusions:
The overarching theme across the lessons
learned is that providing capacity
building assistance has its rewards, but
it is not without its challenges.
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30. African American Capacity Building Initiative
A Program of the Harm Reduction Coalition
22 West 27th Street, 5th Floor
New York, New York 10001
Tel: 212-213-6376
Fax: 212-213-6582
Email: aacbihrc@harmreduction.org
Website: www.harmreduction.org
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