Mother and Child Alliance (MACA)

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

We serve pregnant and postpartum persons living with HIV, predominantly persons of color, most of whom are Medicaid-eligible. Our client focus for case management services are provided free-of-charge and in the community to reduce barriers to accessibility. Our hotline serves clinicians that might diagnose pregnant or postpartum persons and their newborns with HIV to connect them with state of the art advice and treatment recommendations. Callers can access services in English 24/7 and in Spanish during normal business hours. We also focus on strengthening prenatal and postpartum systems of care for persons living with HIV.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many clients did not have either computer access or enough computers for children to attend school and for parents to also be able to access medical services at the same time. We used flexible funding from one donor to provide laptop and desktop computers to over 30 families. We intend to continue to provide basic computer equipment where needed to our clients to help reduce the digital divide in our metro area.

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

We have always been strongly impacted by the people that we serve and do our best to provide them services in the way that it is best for them to receive those services. We have done home visits outside during the pandemic, over a video chat to assess the safe sleeping arrangements for baby, provided text messages for medication adherence support, provided a peer service to support and combat isolation and loneliness. We are "known" for our focus groups where clients can openly share their experiences with various community groups and providers to improve how services for parenting persons living with HIV are provided in a culturally competent manner.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback,