Reaching for Excellence
Community Vision and Voices for Western New York Health Care
One Friday: Four Futures
Conversations
A top priority for the Reaching for Excellence effort was to capture the full range of community perspectives and priorities for health care in Western New York.
Toward this end, the project team traveled across the eight-county region between January 2008 and March 2009 to convene more than 100 community conversations with over 1,700 Western New Yorkers. Forums, primarily small groups, included block clubs, church groups, health centers, employers, schools, senior centers and community and advocacy groups.
| 114 Community Conversations |
21 community groups 21 service providers 16 senior groups 13 general audiences 10 faith-based groups 10 hospitals, clinician groups 8 health advocate groups 7 college student groups 4 higher education faculty/staff 2 government groups 2 employer-sponsored groups |
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| LOCATIONS ACROSS THE REGION | Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Batavia, Cheektowaga, Jamestown, Amherst, Lewiston, Warsaw, Wheatfield, Albion, Cassadaga, Dunkirk, Lackawanna, Olean, Grand Island, Allegany, Gowanda, Evans, Depew, Salamanca, Alden + other towns, villages and cities across WNY | |
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1,732 |
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| GENDER |
Male Female |
25% 75% |
| AGE | 18- 34 35 - 54 55+ |
20% 40% 39% |
| EDUCATIONAL LEVEL | GED or High School College Degree |
26% 74% |
| HOUSEHOLD INCOME | Less than $25,000 $25,000 to $74,999 $75,000 or more |
26% 39% 35% |
| RACE |
White African-American/Black Asian American Indian or Alaska Native Other |
80% 16% 2% 1% 1% |
| ETHNICITY | Hispanic Non-Hispanic |
6% 94% |
Engaging the Community through Conversations
To ensure community-driven health priorities elicited by One Friday: Four Futures reflected the full spectrum of perspectives in Western New York, the project team worked aggressively to engage the broadest possible cross-section of regional residents. In all, 114 community conversations brought together 1,732 community members of all ages, races and ethnicities, income levels, education levels and geographic locations. Held across the region - from Buffalo and Batavia to Williamsville and Warsaw - the conversations reached populations facing some of the most severe health care challenges, including low-income residents, racial and ethnic minorities and seniors. Conversation participants closely mirrored the demographics of the overall Western New York population.
