A brief description of the needs assessment we're currently conducting and my individual contributions to the project.

1. Current Work:
Title IV Needs
Assessment
A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE MEZCOPH & AZ DHS.

2. What is a Title IV Needs Assessment?
 Every five years the federal government requires each state to collect
health care information to determine the current state of support services.
This is to ensure that funding and support are being allocated in
appropriate amounts to needed services and programs.
 The Arizona Department of Human Services partners with many
organizations across Arizona to collect in an attempt to create the a
comprehensive picture of the state of healthcare.
 Our group is a partnership between AZ DHS and the University of
Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman’s College of Public Health. A collection
of representatives from MESCOPH, headed by Dr. John Ehiri, have been
contracted to conduct the assessment.

3. What Is Our Group’s Focus?
 Our group is contracted to conduct an assessment on the state of
maternal, child, and adolescent health.
 Prior to being brought on board, the team conducted an extensive
literature review. In an effort to ensure our information is current and
comprehensive, a series of data collection efforts have been undertaken
with health professionals, as well as with members of underrepresented
communities, including refugee, undocumented, migrant, and rural
communities.
 I was brought on board specifically because of my involvement in the
LGBT+ community and my foster care experience. Both foster children and
parents as well as LGBT+ children and parents are underrepresented in a
great deal of medical literature, and information on both groups is often
not even asked about in demographic data collection.

4. What is my contribution?
 I’ve helped plan and execute a number of focus groups, most of which I didn’t
coordinate. This included finding locations to meet, finding volunteers to assist
in discussion facilitation and note-taking, and running the event. I also
personally facilitate discussions, helping people share their experiences.
 I cultivated a series of community contacts in LGBT+ advocacy and foster
parent circles, forming contacts across many social media groups in an attempt
to find willing people to interview.
 I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to interview a number of families across
the state about their experiences assisting their trans children, and put
together a focus group for trans parents and parents of trans children.
 In addition, I’ve been responsible for collecting demographic data, legal
releases to record the interviews, and the notes from each event.
 I’m currently in the process of uploading all of these documents into the file
collection system the group is using. I’m also being trained in the use of
qualitative data software in order to code the information we’ve collected,
which will make presenting that information to the state much easier.