CAPACITY BUILDING DIS EXAMPLE

SECTION I. Identifying Behavioral Health Disparities: IDENTIFY and DESCRIBE THE SCOPE of the PROBLEM

The Clear Cloud Organization is proposing the Blue Sky, a community-driven initiative designed to avert 

intergenerational trauma and promote resiliency through trauma-informed approaches in the target community of 

Coconut Hill. Blue Sky is designed to effectively address community violence and collective trauma, using a 

comprehensive, integrated, and multi-sectoral approach to substance use prevention, violence prevention, and traumafocused community engagement. 

Homicide deaths by gun violence are disproportionally overrepresented in Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino

residents of Coconut Hill. Nationally, in 2019, Black /African American males between 15 and 34 years old were only 2% 

of the US population, but 47% of gun homicide victims. Likewise, Hispanic/Latino individuals are 3% of the population 

and make up 40% of gun homicide victims. Among racial and gender groups in our community, homicide ranks highest 

as a cause of death for Black /African American and Hispanic/Latino males, being their 5th leading cause of mortality, 

and close to 80% of homicides are committed with firearms (cdc.gov).

In Coconut Hill, we experienced a recent increase in gun related deaths among Black/African American and 

Hispanic/Latino youth between the ages of 15-26 years old. The Mayor of Coconut Hill has tasked the leadership to 

establish a trauma informed strategic plan to promote healing and resiliency in response to the spike in gun violence.

Coconut Hill’s overall population is 2,752,698 (coconuthill.gov). It ranks 15th in the United States by population, and 

according to the 2022 community survey the demographic break down is 8% Pakistan, 14% Black /African American, 

42% White, 20% Filipinos, 4% Korean, 12% multiracial and 54% Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. 

DISPARITY-VULNERABLE POPULATION(S)

The disparity-vulnerable populations are Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino youths between the ages of 15-24.

Approximately 65% of Black /African American families living in Coconut Hill live below the poverty line, and the 

unemployment rate of Black /African American families living in Coconut Hill is 46 %. Similarly, 73% of Hispanic/Latino 

families living in Coconut Hill are below the poverty line, and there is a 37% unemployment rate. This data is compared 

to the state’s poverty rate of 3.4% and unemployment rate of 9% (Census, 2021). There is a lack of culturally competent 

healthcare and behavioral health care providers serving Coconut Hill which creates a lack of access to healthcare and 

health promotion among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino populations. This lack of access is also believed to 

contribute to the recent increase in substance use and major depressive episodes occurring in Coconut Hill; as according 

to the 2022 American Community Survey, Black /African American and Hispanic/Latino youth residing in Coconut Hill 

report a 15% increase in marijuana use in the past two years. Among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino youth 

living in Coconut Hill, there are high instances of teen pregnancy, low high school graduation rates (42%), low rates of 

college or vocational school attendance after graduation (15%). This is compared to the overall high school graduation 

rate of 98%, and the college and or vocational school attendance rate of 96%.
CAPACITY BUILDING DIS EXAMPLE

Demographic Table 

Race Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Total Percentage of 

Total Served

Pakistan 24 24 24 24 96 8%

Black /African American 42 42 42 42 168 14%

White 126 126 126 126 504 42%

Filipino 60 60 60 60 240 20%

Korean 12 12 12 12 48 4%

Multiracial 36 36 36 36 144 12%

TOTAL 300 300 300 300 1200 100%

Ethnicity

Non-Hispanic 136 136 136 136 136 46%

Hispanic 164 164 164 164 164 54%

TOTAL 300 300 300 300 1200 100%

By Gender

Female 86 86 86 86 840 70%

Male 210 210 210 210 344 29%

Transgender 4 4 4 4 16 1%

TOTAL 300 300 300 300 100% 100%

Sexual Orientation

Straight or Heterosexual 200 200 200 200 800 67%

Homosexual (Gay or Lesbian) 55 55 55 55 220 18%

Bisexual person 45 45 45 45 180 15%

TOTAL 300 300 300 300 1200 100%
CAPACITY BUILDING DIS EXAMPLE

SECTION II. Addressing Disparities Using the Funding Opportunity

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Following a needs assessment to understand community health needs, the SDOH domain of Neighborhood and Built 

Environments was identified as an important priority. Blue Sky will address this domain by developing and maintaining a 

community coalition. The coalition will focus on the health of the community by actively working to identify the 

communities’ needs and engaging representatives from multiple sectors across Coconut Hill. 

CLAS STANDARDS

Blue Sky will adhere to the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and 

Health Care in the areas below:

1) Governance, Leadership and Workforce (Standard 3: Recruit, promote and support a culturally and linguistically 

diverse governance, leadership, and workforce.) Blue Sky will advertise job opportunities at Hispanic/Latino Serving

Institutions in addition to traditional employment recruitment strategies. 

2) Offer Communication and Language Assistance, Blue Sky will translate all materials (including digital, and electronic) 

in Spanish (Standard 8: Provide easy-to-understand print and multimedia materials and signage). 

3) Engagement, Continuous Improvement, and Accountability, (Standard 10: Conduct ongoing assessment of the 

organization's CLAS-related activities) and (Standard 11: Collect and maintain demographic data). Blue sky will 

continue to assess the effectiveness of its language and cultural competency strategies as part of its internal QA/QI 

processes. Regular assessments will evaluate if Blue Sky is reaching the disparity-vulnerable population and provide 

insight into the adjustments needed to ensure outcomes are met. Assessments are conducted using surveys, 

informal interviews, checklists, and random audits. 

SECTION III. Developing a Disparity Reduction Quality Improvement Plan

IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITY

Objective from application Activity Listed in Grantee Application What We’ll do to Address 

Disparities/Gaps with This Activity

Promote positive community 

change, resiliency, and healing 

through participatory and 

collective action.

Convene a coalition. Identify Coalition members across 

multiple sectors to engage in the 

coalition. 

Increase knowledge of 

identified Black /African 

American and Hispanic/Latino 

youth and their families by 

60% on how to reduce risk 

factors associated with 

community violence.

Conduct a Youth Gun Violence Listening 

Sessions and develop an action plan.

Host listening sessions in a community 

center that is in Black /African 

American and Hispanic/Latino 

neighborhoods that are on a bus line by 

the end of 2023 with youth and young 

adults affected by gun violence to 

understand more about the challenges 

of addressing gun violence.
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Objective from application Activity Listed in Grantee Application What We’ll do to Address 

Disparities/Gaps with This Activity

Increase community capacity 

to prevent community 

violence. 

Implement at least one multi-media 

public education campaign. 

Host education campaign in Black 

/African American or Hispanic/Latino

neighborhood that is on a bus line. Post 

flyers in public locations that are in the 

communities most affected.

Reduce youth alcohol use in 

the region. 

Create social media campaigns to 

reduce youth alcohol use. 

Recruit diverse influencers and develop 

culturally relevant social media 

campaigns. We will equally distribute 

where we target social media 

campaigns to ensure that zip codes 

where Black/African American and 

Hispanic/Latino youth reside are 

included.

Promote student and school 

safety by reducing risk and 

effectively responding to 

threats of bullying, self-harm, 

school shooting, and other 

school safety concerns.

Distribute gun locks to the community 

to ensure that children and adolescents 

are less likely to access guns. 

Will work with local law enforcement 

and community partners to develop 

culturally relevant messaging around 

firearm safety and education.

INTENDED OUTCOMES AND IMPACT

Through the implementation of the activities mentioned above we intend to show impact by: 

• A .05% increase in access and use of mental health and substance use treatment among Black/African American

and Hispanic/Latino families within 1 year. 

• An increase in protective factors and family resilience as evidenced by a .05% decline in gun related incidents 

annually over three years. 

• A 20 % decline in access to alcohol for people who are under the legal drinking age as evidenced by self-report. 

• An increase in cultural and linguistic staff to support the populations served which would lead to increased 

health literacy, community engagement, and respectful care.

CLIENT/PEER/PARTNER INVOLVEMENT

The program will include peers by ensuring that peer run organizations, and people with lived experience hold at least 

30% (5) positions on the community coalition and or community boards. We will attempt to engage representation from 

people/organizations with lived experience by diversifying our outreach and recruitment approach to include identifying 

and partnering with organizations serving Black /African American and Hispanic/Latino communities. 
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TIMELINE

We will convene a coalition that is representative of the community within 6 months of the grant project. We will have

our recruitment materials translated in Spanish within 90 days of Blue Sky. We will start identifying business and 

organizations that serve Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American communities within 90 days, and we will start our 

recruitment of coalition members within 120 days.

Starting in month five, Blue Sky will start to identify families to participate in the Family Strengthening Curriculum. Blue 

Sky will start to host the first training cohort within six months of the program starting. These activities will be ongoing in 

the communities of focus throughout the grant period.

Within four months Blue Sky will have established at least three partnerships with organizations that serve 

Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American communities to design and translate culturally relevant social media 

campaigns by December of 2023. 

Within eight months, Blue Sky will have recruited 10 diverse social media influencers to promote culturally relevant 

social media campaigns. By the end of year 1, Blue Sky will have launched at least three social media campaigns.

MEASUREMENT/ EVALUATION

We will measure our process, progress, and outcomes to show that we closed the gap within the identified populations 

though the use of client surveys, prior to engagement, during engagement and post engagement with our trainings. We 

will use follow-up surveys (6 months to one year after the trainings) to measure the usefulness and ease of 

implementation of our TF-CBT trainings, family strengthening trainings, and other teacher/provider trainings. 

To measure and evaluate our efforts that are not related to trainings, we will monitor and review the insights into our 

social media campaigns. The insights will be used to measure performance and guide the redirection of our efforts when 

necessary. 

We will conduct regular community health needs assessments and offer ways for individuals to provide feedback on 

care/services

SUSTAINABILITY

As part of the grant, Blue Sky, and the coalition plan to develop a five-year strategic plan to build resilience and address 

barriers faced by the disparity-vulnerable population and their families residing in Coconut Hill. The plan will include an 

evaluation report, recommendations, and commitments to address policies, training, systems, and environmental 

changes needed to create sustained change in Coconut Hill. Within this sustainability plan, we will add measures to 

ensure our programming addresses underserved populations, especially the Black /African American and 

Hispanic/Latino communities that have been disproportionally affected.