About PRTA

PRTA is an innovator and leader in uncovering and addressing health and social issues for vulnerable populations. PRTA's forté is examining and developing responses to multicultural, cross-cutting issues to ensure equal access and improved health. Each year, PRTA trains and builds the capacity of over 40 key provider institutions and 600 individuals throughout the State of California.

PRTA's work is often the first of its kind in the nation. For example, one of PRTA's research projects was the first national health assessment of African-American lesbians age 55 and older, in conjunction with the UCSF Center on Healthy and Active Aging, Lesbian Health Research Center. Several local and national studies show that in every measure of health, African-Americans lag behind other communities, in areas such as cardiovascular health, stroke, and diabetes. In particular, lesbians are also shown to have greater body mass index, greater risk for certain diseases and less frequent access to health care than heterosexual women. This national meeting was the first to address the intersection of race, age, gender, and sexual orientation and the health disparities of this population. By the year 2030, LGBT seniors are expected to number close to 4 million in this country, making a significant impact on the health care and social service systems. The findings from this conference were presented to the National Council on Aging, American Society on Aging’s National Conference and LGBT Constituent Committee, and the National Research Conference on Women’s Health Issues.

Since 1991, PRTA has worked with the State’s Department of Alcohol and Other Drugs Programs to increase the cultural and linguistic competency of agencies with regard to disability and LGBT access to services. PRTA's technical assistance, training, and capacity building services became nationally recognized in the alcohol, drug, and disability fields; PRTA served on several federal advisory panels because of our excellent work in California. PRTA's expertise in building capacity and enhancing cultural competency is being developed to assist agencies working in other health and social service areas, such as aging, youth services, and domestic violence.

One of PRTA's prior focus areas was the disability community. Our work in this area took place during the initial years of the passage and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the 1990’s and before the proliferation of disability-specialized technical support centers. From 1991 to 2000, PRTA was a contractor with the State Department of Health Services to ensure that State funded substance abuse agencies were provided with ADA compliance training and technical support.

During this time, PRTA also completed an innovative demonstration project to support the healthy development of female adolescents with disabilities. Young women in the Bay Area with physical, learning, and other disabilities were paired with adult role models and participated in life skills training in order to build self-esteem, and consequently, resiliency to substance abuse. While resources existed for substance abuse and pregnancy prevention with this population, few if any resources existed for developing life skills in a more holistic manner. PRTA's program, Living Out Loud, included a CD-based curriculum that could be used with schools, community-based organizations, and other organizations. Free technical assistance was provided to over 150 agencies on this issue. Ultimately, this program was requested as a best practice for use in other areas, including the Pima Prevention Partnership in Tucson, Arizona and by a community organization in Canada.
While PRTA's ground-breaking work makes strides along the path to equal access, serious challenges exist in the health care and social service sectors.

Looking to the Future

PRTA's vision for the State of California is to ensure inclusive health care and social services systems that provide accessible services in a culturally-competent manner to all. If this vision is realized, California will become a model for ensuring equitable services to even the most vulnerable populations. Reducing health disparities for the most disenfranchised ensures greater health for society as a whole. With additional investment in our infrastructure, PRTA can become a resource locally, regionally, and throughout the State of California for program, policy, training, and capacity building services to health care providers, social service agencies, government entities, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations on issues related to health care and social services equity for vulnerable populations.

PRTA's expertise in cross-cultural issues and disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible populations has developed into a wealth of technical assistance information over the past 15 years. Initially, this expertise was developed in the context of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use prevention, and now PRTA is applying these lessons to other issues within health care and social services, such as senior health. PRTA’s prevention-oriented approach also serves to address health care and social service needs in their preliminary stages, before extensive and expensive interventions are needed.

PRTA's focus is to develop strategic, long-term solutions. One long-term solution is to increase cultural competence with health and social service providers to improve access. PRTA operates a program area to conduct cultural assessments and provide follow-up training and technical assistance. The ASK model of cultural competence (described earlier) is an example of project that has been developed and with additional investment could be brought to a wider audience of health and social services agencies.

Another long-term solution is to impact policies affecting the provision of health and social services. The Older Californian’s Act is a legislative act that defines services for improving the lives of older people in areas of income, housing, health, employment, retirement and community services. Currently, racial/ethnic populations are defined in the Act and therefore have specific data collected and funding allocated towards the needs of these populations. Again, LGBT seniors again face an invisibility issue, and PRTA is working to include LGBT as a recognized population within the Act. In this way, the needs of LGBT seniors can be documented, addressed, and funded.

While PRTA's ground-breaking work makes strides along the path to equal access, serious challenges exist in the health care and social service sectors. These challenges can be categorized as: the low rate of culturally-competent health care, lack of data and research on vulnerable populations, health disparities, and negative social impacts on service delivery.

Purpose

PRTA works to ensure equal access to health care and social services for disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible (vulnerable) populations in California and nationwide. In particular, PRTA specializes in improving access and health for populations that are least represented when considering cultural competency.

Approach

PRTA accomplishes our work with a comprehensive approach that leads to effective, sustainable change in policy, systems, institutions, and individuals in the health care and social sectors.

Methods

PRTA's methods include:

• Cultural assessment and competency development,
• Institutional capacity building, technical assistance, and planning,
• Training and education,
• Community-driven participatory research,
• Dissemination of best practices and tools,
• Demonstration projects, and
• Policy advocacy

PRTA Highlight:

Staff, Consultants, and Constituencies:

PRTA provides innovative Community Relations and Outreach assistance to our clients. The staff and consultants are experienced professionals averaging more than 20 years in the field cultural competency and training. We understand and work with many different constituencies, enabling PRTA to effectively reach out to:

• The Aging Community
• Multi-cultural Communities
• LGBT Populations
• MBE/WBE/DBE Businesses
• Youth Communities
• Persons with Disabilities

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