Participants in the sessions also recommended strategies to foster Latino recruitment and approaches to sustain Latino participation in the HIV prevention community planning process. Some participants stated that some of these recommendations were already being implemented in their jurisdiction. The following themes describe initiatives that address the issue of Latino participation in the HIV prevention community planning process:

• Co-sponsoring roundtable discussions with other planning groups to discuss barriers; making personal efforts to reach Latinos (e.g., phone calls, mail).
• Providing capacity-building assistance to CBOs on community planning to encourage their participation in the community planning process.
• Pursuing conversations with stakeholders and key HIV/AIDS community players outside of the community planning process to encourage participation.
• Developing an effective process for reviewing community planning guidelines and community planning group by-laws.
• Fostering coalition building within community planning groups; educating community leaders on the community planning process.
• Facilitating roundtable discussions in Spanish and/or providing language translation.
• Making commitments or resolutions to involve more Latinos in the community planning process.
• Providing comprehensive orientation and mentoring to new and ongoing members.
• Rotating meeting places and creating spaces for informal meetings.
• Holding meetings during hours that accommodate community participation (e.g., time, day, and locations).
• Providing incentives for participation (e.g., child care, transportation, meals, etc.).

In addition, some members of CDC’s National Technical Assistance Providers’ Network for HIV prevention community planning have provided PIR technical assistance relating to Latino involvement. As a result, the following can be added to the previous list:

• Marketing the importance of community planning in Latino communities
• Developing a Latino or People of Color committee within CPGs to address recruitment and retention issues
• Providing cultural sensitivity and competency workshops/training to CPG members
• Advertising CPG meetings as a public meeting for the community at-large
• Developing marketing tools that document the accomplishments of past CPG processes

These activities are not exclusive to achieving PIR among Latinos in the community planning process. Other communities of color may be using some of the same strategies. As documented in the following section, several CPGs have implemented strategies to address the barriers that limit Latino participation in community planning.

Go to Examples of Latino Involvement in Community Planning