Underserved groups have been handicapped by barriers that have resulted in low participation rates in the job market, especially if they have a physical or mental disability. It is often times difficult to get the attention of these underserved groups without making extraordinary efforts to reach out to their communities. Understanding the barriers that cause the low participation in our programs is the first step in removing these barriers.
This overview is not intended to be all-inclusive, but simply to discuss a few of the barriers that have caused this lack of participation and how specific projects have taken steps to address them

Cebula, Raymond A, III

Lopez-Soto, Edwin

English

Underserved groups have been handicapped by barriers that have resulted in low participation rates in the job market, especially if they have a physical or mental disability. It is often times difficult to get the attention of these underserved groups without making extraordinary efforts to reach out to their communities. Understanding the barriers that cause the low participation in our programs is the first step in removing these barriers.  This overview is not intended to be all-inclusive, but simply to discuss a few of the barriers that have caused this lack of participation and how specific projects have taken steps to address them.SS36_PDF1.pdf: 6232 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020.0-SS36_TXT1.txt: 100 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Cebula, Raymond A. III

eCommons@Cornell

Promising Practices: The Importance of Outreach to Underserved Populations

DigitalCommons@ILR

This is one of a series of briefs that been designed 
to disseminate information pertaining to promising 
practices within the BPA&O and PABSS network.  
This publication is neither an endorsement of the 
practice or statement regarding the mandated 
work of this network.  The thoughts, opinions and 
practices expressed are those of the authors and do 
not reflect the viewpoints or official policy positions 
of either the Social Security Administration or 
Cornell University.
The authors would like to acknowledge  
contributions from the following individual in the 
production of this brief, Greg Makely from The 
Family Resource Network / NJWINS Program. Edwin J. Lopez-Soto, WISC Training and Organizational 
Development Specialist
Ray Cebula, Cornell Extension Faculty
Work Incentives Support Center
Promising Practices
Creating Model Partnerships to Promote Employment of People with Disabilities
M a r c h  2 0 0 6
w w w . e d i . c o r n e l l . e d u
The Importance of Outreach to 
Underserved Populations 
Contact Information
Cornell University
ILR School 
Employment and Disability Institute
201 ILR Extension
Ithaca, New York 14853-3901
t. 607-255-7727
f. 607-255-2763
tty 607-255-2891
ilr_edi@cornell.edu
www.edi.cornell.edu
Promising Practices  |  June 20064
A D V A N C I N G  T H E  W O R L D  O F  W O R K
as potential burdens for economically 
disadvantaged groups.
• Develop a mailing list of providers and invite 
them to participate in programs run by your 
entire organization but especially those 
targeting the Latino community.
• Schedule training times to fit day care 
providers’ schedules. Saturdays or evenings are 
usually preferred.
• Know which Latino subgroup you are working 
with (i.e., Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, 
Chicanos, and South or Central Americans) and 
recognize any cultural differences that must 
be considered. Incorporate specific foods or 
dishes into the breaks of the training.
• Organize focus groups with Latino providers 
to determine topics for future programs.
• Ask a bilingual staff member to contact the 
providers the week before the program 
and remind them that their attendance is 
important. 
• Place a Latino representative on the 
organization’s Advisory Committee or Board 
to make them aware of your efforts.
• Conduct diversity training with staff members 
in an effort to broaden their knowledge, 
and involve them in more programming with 
Latino clientele.
• Repeat visits and calls to providers are 
necessary so that the community feels you are 
a constant presence and can be relied upon.
• Ask professionals who speak Spanish to 
present training classes. There are often 
proportionately few professionals available 
from some populations. An effective approach 
to this challenge might be networking with 
other agencies.
• Select an appropriate English and Spanish 
curriculum for Outreach sessions. Use the 
Internet to search for resources. If necessary, 
contact others in states with large Hispanic 
populations.
• Arrange for appropriate translations.
• Use interpreters at the Outreach sessions. 
Enlist bilingual and bicultural individuals who 
are native speakers and are aware of cultural 
implications.
• Convince participants that they are welcome. 
Consider experiences with discrimination that 
may cause potential participants to distrust the 
objectives or question the value of the program. 
Have Latino music playing as they enter the 
room where the Outreach session will occur.
• Food is very big in the Latino community so 
have Latino food at all the meetings. Assume 
that food will be a focus at the end of the 
meeting and use it as a way to get to know the 
key participants better.
• Time is fungible to Latinos.  Plan on meetings 
beginning a little late and running over.  Be 
ready to be flexible as Latinos may schedule 
meetings with very little notice and if you are 
not ready to change your plans, you will be left 
out of the loop.
• Be ready to solve the problems of other family 
members before you can gain the trust of the 
father and mother of a disabled child.
Background
The United States has witnessed significant demographic changes 
in both urban and rural areas in recent times. Between 1990 and 
2000, the US population grew to more than 281 million—an increase 
of nearly 33 million, the largest in any decade in American history. 
During that same decade, foreign immigration played a large and 
historically unprecedented role in contributing to the growth of the 
resident population of the US and the nation’s labor force. Between 
1990 and 2000, the number of new immigrants arriving in the US 
reached 13.2 million, accounting for about 41 percent of the growth 
in the nation’s population. During the same decade, new immigrants 
contributed nearly one-half of the growth in the nation’s labor force.  
When new immigrants are added to existing minority groups, the 
number of those individuals considered to be a member of a minority 
increases dramatically.
The Importance of Outreach to Underserved Populations
2 Promising Practices  |  June  2006 3Promising Practices  |  June  2006
The growing numbers of those individuals 
considered members of minorities, as well 
as the increasing variety of minority groups 
(both ethnic and disability) created additional 
needs and special terms.  The term socially 
disadvantaged group refers to groups whose 
members have been subjected to racial or 
ethnic prejudice because of their identity 
as members of a group, without regard to 
their individual qualities.  Other groups may 
experience prejudice as a result of an existing 
disability or diagnosis.  These are also typically 
underserved groups.
Underserved groups have been handicapped by 
barriers that have resulted in low participation 
rates in the job market, especially if they 
have a physical or mental disability. It is 
often times difficult to get the attention of 
these underserved groups without making 
extraordinary efforts to reach out to their 
communities. Understanding the barriers that 
cause the low participation in our programs is 
the first step in removing these barriers.  
This overview is not intended to be all-
inclusive, but simply to discuss a few of 
the barriers that have caused this lack of 
participation and how specific projects have 
taken steps to address them.
Discrimination
As the definition of socially disadvantaged 
groups states, members have been subjected 
to racial, ethnic or disability prejudice because 
of their identity as members of a group, 
without regard to their individual qualities. 
Discrimination can create barriers to pursuing 
higher education and better employment 
opportunities. 
Lack of Education
Discrimination has led to educational 
disadvantages for many socially disadvantaged 
groups. Many have been denied access 
to formal education or received a limited 
education. Many also struggle economically 
and are unable to pursue educational 
opportunities because of financial hardships. 
Many minority immigrant groups also face 
educational disadvantages because their 
countries origin may have offered them few 
possibilities for formal education.
Differences in Language and Culture 
that Inhibit Communication
When members of a group have poor 
educational backgrounds, documents that 
require reading and writing skills can be 
intimidating, embarrassing and confusing. 
Written materials are seldom effective for 
conveying information in situations where the 
recipient has a limited educational background.
The dominant US culture relies heavily on the 
written word while many other cultures may 
emphasize oral and visual communication. Other 
cultural differences such as personal space, eye 
contact and different gestures can also inhibit or 
strain communications.
Limited English Skills
The large influx of immigrants in recent 
years has resulted in larger numbers within 
the US population for whom English is not 
their primary language. Breakdowns in 
communications arising from “English-as-a 
second-language” can create significant barriers 
to participation in social service and government 
programs.
Fear and Distrust of Government
Historically, many minority groups have been 
treated badly by government entities in their 
countries of origin.  This often gives rise to a 
fear and distrust of government officials and 
agencies in the US.  
That same distrust may also make it difficult 
for minority groups to approach, accept and 
cooperate with social service organizations.  
When approached by any government 
employee, or someone seen in an official 
capacity, a minority member may express alarm, 
doubt, or be coldly polite.  This can be especially 
true if the employee is also a member of the 
majority culture. 
We must keep these cultural differences and 
historic experiences in mind as we reach out to 
different communities. We may need to consider 
altering how we approach and interact with 
individuals from diverse communities. At the 
same time grouping people into categories such 
as these also can be misleading. We must be 
careful to avoid making broad assumptions about 
people based solely on appearances or ethnic or 
racial affiliation.
Now, that we understand some of the barriers, 
the next step is making a concerted effort to 
reach out to these underserved populations.  
Community outreach is at the heart of building 
a strong and responsive Benefits Planning 
Assistance and Outreach (BPA&O) or Protection 
and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security 
(PABSS) program and allows each to provide 
the best possible customer service. Achieving 
an effective and inclusive community outreach 
program, however, does not happen overnight. 
It takes time, energy and commitment to build 
a strong and effective outreach program. Your 
efforts to include a broad range of community 
interests should not be driven by outside 
expectations but instead an internal desire to see 
all of the people with disabilities who wish to 
return to work in your community served in the 
most effective manner.
With that idea in mind, let’s look at the efforts 
made in a number of communities by the BPAO 
and the PABSS projects.
Reaching Out to the Latino Community 
in Upstate New York and in New Jersey
Building trust and investing many hours of staff 
time has brought a level of comfort to allow 
the Resource Center for Independent Living in 
upstate New York and the New Jersey WINS 
project of New Jersey to successfully reach out 
to their respective latino communities.  Not so 
surprisingly, BPA&O staff in both offices found 
that similar language barriers existed in both 
areas and that the same type of effort succeeded 
in both areas.
With the successful outreach efforts enumerated 
below, both agencies have seen dramatic 
increases in the numbers of latino clients served 
by the BPA&O program and by each office 
overall.  Amazingly, both offices found that 
the latino community as a whole did not know 
of the agencies’ existence before the outreach 
efforts.  However, this will unfortunately become 
a trend when we explore efforts made to other 
underserved communities.
Identification of the Cultural Barriers
• Education levels - Latinos tend to have less 
education than other ethnic groups. 
• Language barriers - According to the 2000 
census, 78% of American Latinos speak 
Spanish at home. Bilingual staff is important 
and Outreach sessions need to be conducted 
in English and Spanish.
• Poverty - Approximately 23% of Hispanic 
families live below the poverty level, and 
Puerto Ricans have the lowest income of the 
three major sub-groups. 
• Misunderstanding of cultural values - Latino 
cultural values, like personalism (there is 
nothing like face-to-face contact), familism 
(all decisions by the individual are made 
with regard to the well-being of the family 
first and foremost), and machismo, must be 
understood and addressed.  
• Mistrust of Government agencies - Not-for-
profit agencies are considered government 
agencies.
• Latinos engulf a disabled adult child and often 
infantalize him by doing everything for him.  
This can result in a distrust at the appearance 
of strangers who want to help.  Thus, before 
the family will allow an agency to assist a 
disabled child, they must trust the individual 
offering assistance.  
Methods Used To Increase Latino Involvement 
in the BPA&O Area 
• Form partnerships with Latino agencies 
and community organizations to develop 
credibility with the clientele.
• Translate program flyers and registration 
materials into Spanish to increase attendance 
and accessibility.
• Schedule Latino neighborhood events that 
are easily accessible via public transportation. 
Consider transportation time and costs 
The Importance of Outreach to Underserved PopulationsThe Importance of Outreach to Underserved Populations


https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1212&amp;context=edicollect

Promising Practices: The Importance of Outreach to Underserved Populations

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

eCommons@Cornell

DigitalCommons@ILR