Rainbow Room – Latino Community Development Agency

Present: Herman Curiel, Cynthia Tobar, Tim Brittingham, David Barney, Betty Duran, DJ Thompson, Maria Aymat, Anita Martinez, Ruth Barajas-Mazaheri, Alfonso Redas, Mario Zamoraon, Madeline Moreno, Sister Elsa, (7-Linkage Council members)

Ruth welcomed members. Advised that today we have a different agenda that focus on the future work of the council.

Cynthia asked if everyone had received minutes from last meeting. Asked group if they had a preference for the language in which the notes are transcribed. The majority preferred English? Asked members if there were any educational materials that they would like to be made available to them that would aide them to better understand IPV/SV. One woman said videos backed up with research information.

Cynthia discussed extended community which consists of providers of IPV/SV services. She asked when the Latino group would like to include the extended members in the local council meetings. Does group want to continue to identify barriers and other issues before inviting the extended members? Alfonso asked if they could be told the purpose of the extended council and what would they do together. Cynthia said that the extended community members are a requirement of CDC. They are also providers in OKC who have had some experience in providing services to IPV/SV victims from the Latino community. These agencies acknowledge that their agencies have been unable to fully meet the needs of the Latino population and would like to collaborate with LCDA to enhance services. The Latino council will help to identify assets and barriers which will later be shared with extended group. Ruth said group has lots of input in stating when and why the extended community is included.

Ruth again raised the issue of training – does group feel they have all the information they need on partner violence, if not, then LCDA needs to provide. Process is part of empowering the council. Emphasized that council has lead in development of the Linkage Council.

Cynthia read a list of extended community members. Marcia Smith, Pauline Muskgrove, Jennifer McLaughlin, Sharen Taylor-Wilson, Ann Lorenz, Margaret Goldman, Larry Rhoades, Cassandra Smith, and Benita Castillo. These persons have expressed concern that their agencies do no have bilingual staff and want to work with the Latino community on enhancing services for IPV/SV. Anita said bilingual staff are definitely needed to better serve Latinos. Ruth said part of the process is to hear from the council as to what they see occurring in the community and what are the identified needs of the community. Sister said a disadvantage is that families in need of services are confronted with limited resources (i.e., car) and multiple problems, she felt that such families could benefit from centralized resources. Cynthia advised that the funding source has set expectations on how the council develops the information needed to support service development within the community. Unfortunately this will require some planning which will delay service implementation. Maria asked “what is the term of funding.” Cynthia said this is a five year grant. Maria asked who would take responsibility for the services that have been implemented after the five years. Ruth advised that the funding source is asking the community to demonstrate that there is a need for such services which is supported through community input by identifying needs, setting priorities, and providing recommendations. Once this process have been completed, CDC will allow services to be implemented. The intent is to establish services and then look for long-term funding to support independent continuation of the services to the Latino community. Sister said success is based on community voice in which they can demonstrate a need in a manner that helps community members. If done properly, then it becomes easier to obtain future funding. She stated this is not just a problem for Latinos but for all communities of color. A strength is that we consider ourselves as a family.

Cynthia introduced Dr. Herman Curiel of the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Curiel advised the council that he has agreed to assist LCDA staff with facilitating the group’s work. (Fernando Martinez joined group at this time). Dr. Curiel turned the meeting over to Dr. Barney. Dr. Barney reviewed program as outlined by CDC. Linkage Council will set goals and objectives for council, derive a definition for partner violence in the community, identify what are the barriers and issues related to IPV. When this is completed then CDC and OU will provide some models of interventions that the council will review to determine what may be the most culturally appropriate for the community. As a voice of the community, there is an expectation that council will work with other providers to enhance their capability to service Latinos. The University is a resource to help LCDA and the council in setting the research agenda. CDC has mandated that certain things be achieved. The initial effort is to gather information on IPV. The first effort is to conduct a resource inventory of OKC of agencies who provide services to individuals and families dealing with IPV. This will not only include service description, but agency attitudes and values in serving Latinos, as well as barriers that they identify. The second is focus groups with community members to assess values and attitudes toward partner violence. The focus groups will consist of two groups of women, two of men, one of elderly women, and one of youth. Ruth asked David to explain focus groups. David said they are small group discussions with groups of about 8 people who share a common interest about a specific subject. The group is presented with a limited number of open ended questions, then the group members reach a consensus the degree of importance and value of what is identified in their discussion. The groups are about 90 minutes long and will be conducted in Spanish. Data is analyzed by using a coding method. Third is key informant interviews that are long interviews with individuals that will last approximately 2-hours. Plan to interview 10 victims and 5 perpetrators. Also will look at a gender split among the persons identified. Victims will be 7 females and 3 males. Perpetrators are mostly male with one or two females. Important to include both genders within both groups in order to support the need for services. Ruth said council will be asked to aide with identifying participants. All information shared will be totally confidential. Participation is voluntary and participants will receive an incentive. The findings will be written up and presented to the council for review. The council will then critic the data collected from the interviews. The council will also use information collected from agencies to develop a list of recommendations. A women asked what would be their role when participants are identified. Herman said the findings will be shared with the council to be used in the program planning.

David said one of the first steps will include reviewing the CDC protocol, most which are very good and make some recommendation on which interview protocols may need some modifications. Betty advised that when information is presented to the council, no participant names will be disclosed. Ruth emphasized that confidentiality will be a responsibility of all the council members.

One woman said she would like to receive more training and information before proceeding with planning as a group. Other feedback was that this education is essential in order to enable members to be more informed about IPV/SV issues before working with the extended council. Herman said this is a serious issue that impacts all levels of family, elderly, parents, children and others. Ms. Martinez said that traditional beliefs of family respect prevents families from speaking out. Sister Elsa also agreed that more information would be very beneficial in order to better understand the problem and how to assess information presented to them. Sister spoke of a case in which a parent who confided in her that she lived with her family in a two story home. The mother had expressed concern that she had observed her son masturbating in front of a computer through a slightly open door. The parent felt that the boy should know better because he had been taught in religion classes that this behavior was not proper. Parent was concerned with how this behavior would influence future behavior.

Alfonso said that we should anticipate that as people participate in groups, needs are going to be raised such as counseling. Would there be supports to offer participants. David said procedures are being set-up to address the needs of victims. Sister asked if participants would need to give their names when agreeing to focus groups or interviews. David stated that participants may be asked to give a first name, but that has not been finalized. Betty said university has a responsibility to provide a referral to a therapist if requested by the participant during the interview. Herman said interviews can be anonymous where no name is recorded. Betty asked if Sister or the council could suggest an alternative location for the interviews that would be considered safe to the participants. David said participation is voluntary in which the participant only answers to those questions they are comfortable with and that they will be able to leave at any point in the interview.

Yolanda wanted to know how information this would be presented to potential participants. She believes that most Latinos are first generation who are not ready to receive therapy and would require therapy before they could understand the purpose of focus groups. Ruth said part of the reason we are doing this is to develop the first step to developing services.

Betty said an informational flyer will be developed that will describe IPV/SV, state that it is a concern within the Latino community and in order to gather information to support service development for Latinos, community members are being asked to participate in focus groups, as well as interviews with individuals who identify as victims or individuals that believe they have acted out violence with family members. The information will not require names or personal information. Additionally, the flyer should include that information collected from participants will not be shared with the police, immigration or any other agencies. The information will be consolidated into a report which will not identify individuals. Incentives will be provided to participants.

Alfonso asked who should take initiative to bring awareness about IPV/SV to the community. David said community would need to take the lead with the community as well as with service providers. Ruth said training is a key element in aiding the council to become better prepared in developing approaches to making the community aware of IPV. Pastor Zamoron said people do not understand what is domestic violence, therefore it is important that the council have a clear definition of domestic violence. It is important to understand that what is not normal for us may be normal to another. The pastor said that cultural differences also impact definitions of domestic violence.

Herman time for next meeting. Ruth said that the group probably has many issues to address, therefore they may need to determine how often they would like to meet. Ms. Martinez said any day is good except Fridays. Pastor Zamoron suggested every two weeks. He added that he realized this may be perceived as time consuming, but if council members are committed to this effort, they will make the time to attend meetings. Sister advised she is committed to visits at the prison on Thursdays, Wednesday would be better for her. Ruth suggested that one meeting be on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. Cynthia suggested the Wednesday meetings could focus on training and Thursday on council issues. She advised that minutes would be sent out within the next two weeks.

Alfonso would like to work on community awareness on domestic violence. Pastor suggested small ads in Spanish Newspaper or radio stations. Ruth said LCDA will develop some messages for the council to review that can be posted. Sister this would also be important to help get information out to victims. Suggested that these messages have a contact number where potential victims could call and ultimately participate in the interviews. Cynthia said that while increasing awareness, we need to be prepared to have services available. Next meetings are scheduled for March 13^th and 28^th.