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Project Name: Family Professional Partnership/CSHCN (H84)
Applicant Title: Arkansas Disability Coalition
Abstract Text: Project Title: Arkansas Family-to-Family Health Information Center Funding Amount: $96,750.00 Applicant Name: Arkansas Disability Coalition Physical Address: 13301 Betty Circle, Alexander, AR 72202-7273 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 31420, Little Rock, AR 72260-0026 Primary Contact: Lynne McAllester, Executive Director xxx-xxx-xxxx E-mail Address: xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx Website Address: http://www.ardisabilitycoalition.org Arkansas Disability Coalition (ADC) currently houses the Family-to-Family Health Information Center of Arkansas. Through funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the ADC will continue to operate the state-wide, family-run center that will assist families of children and youth with special health care needs to become partners in decision-making at all levels of health care. There are over 157,000 children with special health care needs in the state of Arkansas. This reflects a 23% increase and although Arkansas has made some significant progress since the last census, the state is below the national average on the number of measures for children with special health care needs. Childhood screenings are still below the national average and with the COVID-19 pandemic, families are struggling even more to access services. Poverty levels have seen an increase and Arkansas now ranks 46th in the nation in the number of children living in poverty. The Hispanic population continues to grow and as does other ethnicities especially in the NW Region of the state. These specific challenges make it difficult to provide culturally-competent comprehensive, coordinated, and accessible health care, often leaving families with unmet needs. The Arkansas Family-to-Family Health Information Center maintains a highly skilled and knowledgeable staff consisting of a Project Director and five Family Resource Specialists who carry out the following goals: 1. Expand health care access trainings for families of CYSHCN and the professionals who serve them 2. Integrate family/provider staff training between F2F and Title V CYSHCN staff 3. Increase collaborative relationships with other organizations 4. Increase cultural competency within families and partnering organizations 5. Organize health-related resource information for families and professionals 6. Improve transition services for families of CYSHCN and their health care providers The Arkansas Disability Coalition partners with the state Title V program, Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), the University for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Family Voices and is collaborating with numerous state agencies, community and faith based organizations to achieve the goals of the Family-to-Family HIC of Arkansas. Program effectiveness is evaluated using the internal data collection systems, surveys, online activities, stakeholder participation, family impact reports and partnership activity reports.