September 10, 2024
A Title V team from Puerto Rico participated in our 2022 Learning Journey. This follow-up report details the team’s accomplishments 18 months after their participation.
Puerto Rico’s Learning Journey
Puerto Rico’s team began their Learning Journey with the Center to identify the steps needed to advance their family engagement goals.
With the support of Center expertise, Puerto Rico was able to:
- Break down their challenge into smaller parts
- Gather perspectives of staff, families, and partners
- Build a strong team to lead the work long-term
When interviewed six months after the Learning Journey, the team reported that they had used the staff survey results to make recommendations to better integrate family voices in all Title V work beyond small consultations or input for Needs Assessments. Their interview at eighteen months highlights the progress they have made on their transformation journey and where they are headed as a united team.
The Impact: Unifying Teams Around Family Engagement
Puerto Rico’s team was able to sustain their work over the 18 months since their Learning Journey experience. They are currently entering their third of four phases of their project in order to better understand how families understand “Family Engagement.” The team highlights several critical themes around their organizational evolution that was facilitated by the Center’s coaches equipped with systems integration and meeting facilitation tools:
- Building channels for teamwork and increasing work integration at the program level, namely between the Maternal and Child Health Service (MCHS) and Children with Special Health Care Needs Service (CSHCNS) programs
- Honing in on an understanding of Family Engagement and its impacts, particularly related to its connections with principles of health equity
- Managing organizational change that comes with co-creating workshops alongside families
- Instilling firm hope and optimism about their mission’s past and future trajectory
“The most valuable benefit of engaging with the Center has been the creation of a team with a common goal, that despite the challenges, has remained firm and optimistic with the original plan of including families in all Title V processes.”
Through the development of a logic model with clear objectives, Puerto Rico’s team has joined forces and created a strong bond across previously siloed programs. The integration of their services and work activities gave the team the chance to define a joint, fixed, and sustainable impact goal. They look toward 2025 to complete the fourth and final phase, where they will establish a Family Advisory Council to address health equity and help increase the impact of their work.
Project Timeline
- 2009 – Previous family engagement through Family Engagement and Support Advocates, Youth Advisory Council, Title V Family Inclusion Steering Committee
- 2022 – Learning Journey: learned how family engagement improves health and health equity; established a strong “Family Network” in and around Title V programs
- 2023 – 6-month follow-up: used recommendation from staff surveys to better integrate family voices through Title V work, including centering family strengths and capacity to partner
- 2024 – 18-month follow-up: rallied distinct MCHS and CSHCNS team around common goal; managed team transformation; led with optimism about the health equity impacts of family engagement
Puerto Rico Team Members
- SSDI Coordinator
- CSHCN Evaluator
- Family Representative
- Title V Evaluators
- Cultural Anthropologist
- YAC Coordinator
- Pediatric Health Epidemiologist
A downloadable PDF version of this page content is available below. The PDF may not be fully accessible. You can request an accessible PDF at mchwdc@unc.edu.