What is Program Element (PE) 46?
PE 46 is the Reproductive Health Program Element (PE) titled, Community Partnerships and Assurance of Access to Reproductive Health Services. It was developed in collaboration with CLHO. The funding for PE 46 is based on a formula that incorporates a number of factors, including: county population, urban vs. rural communities, Chlamydia rates, and Women in Need.
PE 46 Goal: Assure access to RH services in your county through meaningful community engagement and partnerships and the development of responsive policies and programmatic actions.
Funded Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs) identify community partners, assess gaps and barriers to RH services, and develop programmatic or policy solutions to overcome such barriers. Each LPHA works through the following three components:
Partnerships and community engagement are at the core of PE 46. Through these relationships, LPHAs and their partners work to assess gaps and barriers to care as well as identify policy and/or programmatic activities to address identified gaps and barriers.
Potential partners:
- Health care providers
- RHCare, CCare, and AbortionCare agencies
- Community-based organizations
- Schools
- Cultural organizations
- Sexual and domestic violence organizations
- Workforce Development
- Parenting group
- Individual community members
In Component 2, LPHAs and their community partners will identify barriers to access and gaps in RH services. This can include formal or informal assessments. Formal assessments may include surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews. Informal approaches may include conversations with community or analyzing secondary data (i.e. state or county level data, clinic-level data related to RH).
LPHAs and their community partners will take the results of their assessments(s) to develop and implement solutions. Solutions may require additional funding or support from leadership to enact. Examples include:
- Increasing awareness of services through informational fairs or other events
- Developing materials for distribution (on specific RH topics or about RH services)
- Piloting expansion of clinic hours
- Conducting educational classes
- Providing materials in various languages
- Providing gas cards or bus tokens for transportation
- Creating radio spots to increase awareness