Initiative Description
We partnered with Salt Lake County to educate underserved communities, such as individuals with disabilities, older adults, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, Latinx populations, about available resources in Utah during the pandemic. We have existing, established social media accounts, blog, podcast, newsletter, and long-term (30 years) partnerships with many multicultural, aging, and disability organizations statewide that can post and disseminate information through email, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc. Social media platforms include Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. We have been effective in reaching underserved populations statewide for many years. The funding came from Salt Lake County to conduct outreach activities. Collaborating agencies in this project were Utah Development Disability Council, Disability Law Center, Utah Parent Center, Statewide Centers for Independent Living, Area Agencies on Aging, Senior Centers, Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition.
Lessons Learned/Replication
Most of the existing partnerships knew about the AT services. Minority communities often do not request our services, but we've spoken to many leaders in the minority organization and received more requests to obtain AT devices with our outreach effort. Our state is not hosting many in-person events at this time; we hope to spread the word to individuals rather than through leadership. This would help answer the individuals' questions and create personal relationships. This was a one-time (one year) project, but we hope to partner with the county to support more diverse residents in this area.