Latino Healthy Families Project

In 2009 SOAR received a grant from the Martin Luther King County Children and Family Commission to facilitate a community-wide planning project for a Latino Healthy Families Program (LHFP) model. The intent of the Commission was use this model to guide future RFPs for Latino family services, to the extent that funding was available.  As a community-wide collaboration and the planning entity for the project, SOAR’s mandate was the development of a sound model that would work for young Latino parents. The purpose of the project was to develop a program model for serving young (under 22 years), expecting or first time Latino parents; both mothers and fathers. The commission was particularly interested in teen parents. The project occurred over a 6-month time frame, culminating on December 31, 2009.

Led by Mercedes Cordova-Hakim, SOAR Early Childhood Program Manager, and assisted by a group of community liaisons (Promotores) from the Latino community the project consisted of the following phases Review of relevant evaluation/research on  programs that have proven effective in serving young, first time Latino parents; both nationally and locally. (July-August)

• Interviews with local agencies providing services to young, first-time Latino families. Information gathered included the type of service offered, outcomes of the service, and additional resources/services needed to effectively serve this population. One or more staff from programs were interviewed by phone. (July – August)
• Focus groups with young, first time Latino parents and their extended families. SOAR facilitated 11 focus groups with young, first time Latino Parents and 4 focus groups with extended family members. Focus groups were held in all areas of Martin Luther King County.  (September – October)
• Development of draft program model based upon input of focus groups, agency interviews and research. (October – November)
• Vetting of the draft model to the Latino community. The draft model was presented to the Latino community for review and further input and agencies were asked to comment in writing. SOAR convened 2 follow-up events with focus group participants for this purpose. (November – December)
• Final model submitted to Martin Luther King County Children and Family Commission (December 31)

Contact:

Mercedes Cordova-Hakim, Project Manager, mercedes@childrenandyouth.org, 206.336.6938
Harla Tumbleson, Director of SOAR, harla@childrenandyouth.org 206.336.6930

 

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