PARTNER SITE MANUAL

OUR PARTNER //

OUR CHAPTER //

GlobeMed at Princeton

Medical AIDS Outreach

Princeton, NJ

Montgomery, Alabama

DEMOGRAPHICS

CULTURE

GEOGRAPHY

General OBSERVATIONS

PARTNER Organization

COMMUNITY ASSETS

MEDIA AND RESOURCES

GEOGRAPHY

WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL MODES OF TRANSPORTATION IN THE COUNTRY AND COMMUNITY?

United states

alabama

ARE YOU LIVING IN THE SAME COMMUNITY AS THE BENEFICIARIES OF YOUR PROJECT?

montgomery

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Yes.

The only means of transportation in this community is by car. Alabama generally does not have a very comprehensive public transportation system.

RELIGION:

TRADITIONAL DIET:

TYPICALHOUSEHOLD SIZE:

PARTNER COUNTRY: united states PARTNER COMMUNITY: montgomery, alabama

CLIMATE:

LANGUAGE:

MAJOR INDUSTRY:

WHAT IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE LIKE IN THE COMMUNITY?

DO MANY PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO CELL PHONES, COMPUTERS, AND OTHER FORMS OF TECHNOLOGY?

WHAT ARE THE GENDER DYNAMICS IN YOUR PARTNER COMMUNITY?

POPULATION:

TYPICAL JOBS:

LANGUAGE:

RELIGION:

POPULATION:English

Auto

Christianity

311 million

400,000

Hot and humid

Christianity

English

2-3

No typical jobs, but one of the largest employers is Hyundai. Rural jobs range from factory workers to farmers.

Fried chicken, collard greens, okra, American food

Montgomery has a modern infrastructure. It is like any other city in the United States. Most of the area that have MAO serves is in rural Alabama, outside of Montgomery.

Cotton, soybeans, peanuts, Hyundai cars

Generally the gender dynamics in the partner community are very traditional. The male still plays a dominant role in the house.

Most people have access to all forms of technology. The question lies more with whether they can afford it.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR EXPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY?

DEMOGRAPHICS

MAJOR CROPS GROWN: Cotton, soy beans, peanuts

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ARE THERE ANY INTERESTING NATIONAL PARKS, ARBORETUMS, OR OTHER NATURAL SITES IN THE COMMUNITY OR COUNTRY?

ARE THERE ANY MUSEUMS OR MEMORIALS IN THE COMMUNITY OR COUNTRY THAT YOU FOUND INTERESTING?

ARE THERE ANY CULTURAL EVENTS OR HOLIDAYS THAT ARE CELEBRATED DURING YOUR GROW INTERNSHIP?

IS IT SAFE FOR GROW TEAMS TO ATTEND AND TRAVEL TO THESE SITES WITHOUT A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE PARTNER ORGANIZATION?

Points of Interest

CULTURE

This is not actually in Alabama, but about a 3 hour drive from Montgomery is the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida. It is one of the only naturally white sand beaches in the world.

There are many museums in the Montgomery area. One that I found exceptionally interesting was the Rosa Parks Museum. Montgomery is known as one of the epicenters of the civil rights movement. The Rosa Parks Museum seeks to perpetuate the memory of all of those who dedicated their lives to civil rights. Another smaller museum that we visited was the F Scott Fitzgerald Museum. It was a quaint, little museum and the tour guide was very friendly to us.I found the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Martin Luther King's church, to be a very moving memorial. One memorial that I also think would be worth a visit is the Civil Rights Memorial in downtown Montgomery. We, unfortunately, did not get the chance to visit that memorial.

It was fairly safe. However, don't plan on trying to get anywhere without a car.

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It is almost a requirement to go to a fried chicken restaurant in Montgomery. The one I would highly recommend is Martin's Restaurant. Go there for a true taste of Southern hospitality and cuisine.

Organizational Details

WHAT IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION CURRENTLY FACES?

Location: Montgomery, Alabama

Important Questions

HOW DO STAFF AT YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION PERCEIVE GLOBEMED?

WHAT WOULD BE MISSING FROM THE COMMUNITY IF YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION DIDN’T EXIST?

TRANSPORTATION TO PARTNER ORGANIZATION:

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES:

FULL-TIME VOLUNTEERS:

PEOPLE IMPACTEDBY ORGANIZATION:

by th

e nu

mbe

rs

TARGET POPULATION:

ORGANIZATION’S POPULARITY:

ORGANIZATION’S OTHER PARTNERS:

40

1

1.1 million

Minorities, disadvantaged rural communities

In+ Care Campaign, Ryan White Foundation, Polycom

10 minute drive

MAO's greatest challenge lies in finding ways to bring patients to its clinics. It's patients are often poor and cannot afford to take the day off work. Other patients may not have the means of transportation to get to the clinics. In fact, one elderly lady has to take nearly 3 hours travel to MAO's main clinic. It only takes us about 15 minutes to drive to that lady's house by car. This is only one of the many illustrations of the dearth of public transportation in Alabama.

The staff perceives GlobeMed and the partnership very positively. They see it as her a crucial way to further their education efforts. In addition, the goal of raising the awareness of MAO's efforts in the South is necessary for inspiring more action. The staff really believe that the partnership is going to grow and going to be extremely useful to the society.

If MAO did not exist, the community it serves would be lacking a comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment center.

PARTNER ORGANIZATION

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Not that well known, which is good to avoid stigma

NGOS

Public Infrastructure

SCHOOLS

LAW ENFORCEMENT

BANKS

POST OFFICES

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Important Constituents in the Community

CULTURAL OR COMMUNITY GROUPS

COMMUNITY ASSETS

Southern and western Alabama has a plethora of schools. These include many famous universities such as Troy University. In Montgomery, there are many branches of universities. For instance, Auburn University and Troy University both have a branch in Montgomery. Montgomery is also the home of Alabama State University, a historically black college. There are also many secondary and primary schools. Perhaps the most famous one in Montgomery is the Montgomery Academy.

In Montgomery, the police are just as visible as in any community. Outside of Montgomery, however, there were hardly any police. It is important to note that Montgomery has had a history of police brutality. We, however, only encountered very courteous officers.

There are almost one post office for every town in southern and western Alabama. Post offices serve as the lifeline for many small towns. This, however, is about to change. The current budget cuts, many post offices are about to be closed. This could lead to further isolation for many Alabama towns which depend on post offices as the main line for medicine and communication to the outside world.

There is a bus system in Montgomery. If, however, you leave Central Montgomery, there exists no public transportation. This, in fact, is one of the main impediments to care. Patient often cannot simply get to the hospital. Even in Central Montgomery, the public transportation system is so inefficient that it often takes patients long hours to see the doctor. Often, it is the poor community that cannot afford to spend long hours to get the treatment they need.

In the cities, they are just as many banks is in a normal American city. However in more rural areas, there are relatively few resources. It should not be surprising, therefore, that there are not many banks in western or southern rural Alabama.

Perhaps the most important community group is the church. It is indeed not an exaggeration to say that there is a church on every block in Montgomery. Even in rural Alabama the church still remains a strong centerpoint of life for the community. Apart from the church, another very important cultural phenomenon in Alabama is college football. In Alabama, football is huge with famous rivalries such as the Alabama-Auburn feud.

We did not observe any other NGOs doing work in the community. We know, however, that there are many NGOs working in southern and western Alabama. There are, though, not many NGOs working on HIV/AIDS. As far as we know, MAO may possibly be the only provider of affordable HIV/AIDS treatment to the rural population in Southern and Western Alabama.

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WHAT HAS BEEN GLOBEMED’S MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION TO DATE?

WHAT IS YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION’S GREATEST PROGRAMMATIC NEED?

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP?

DO YOU SEE ANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION WITH OTHER LOCAL OR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OR INSTITUTIONS?

CAN THE GLOBEMED NATIONAL OFFICE SUPPORT MORE COLLABORATION BETWEEN YOUR PARTNER ORGANIZATION AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS?

Reflection and Planning

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

I think GlobeMed's most significant contribution to our partner organization has been the publicity we have been able to garner on-campus regarding the HIV/AIDS issue in the south.

I think MAO's greatest organization or programmatic need is publicity of the problems in the south. Whenever I talk to my fellow peers at the University, they are ignorant of the problem surrounding HIV/AIDS in the south.

I see a possibility for having different people from MAO actually come to Princeton and speak about HIV/AIDS in the south. I also see that possible future collaboration between the Princeton global health program and MAO. It is a very real possibility that we may be able to send interns to MAO every summer.

I see the opportunity for collaboration between MAO and the Princeton global health program.

That is a hard question to answer. Since this partnership is so new, I think GlobeMed's National Office's main responsibility is to advise the current leadership on how to further develop a trusting and mutually beneficial relationship.

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MEDIA AND RESOURCES

MEDIA

BLOG

PHOTOS

PARTNER RESOURCES

PARTNER

ANNUAL REPORT

MOU

WEBSITESGlobeMed at Princeton

SmugMug

Medical AIDS Outreach

MAO Facebook

2011-2012

2011-2012

Razoo

GlobeMed at Princeton -- Facebook

GlobeMed at Princeton Twitter

CIA Factbook: United States

WHO Info: United States

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Any final tips for future GROW teams?

Make sure you take initiative in trying to make your own project. MAO allows for a lot of flexibility so take advantage of it and really try to learn something from being there! Also, try to think of a way to understand the community there either by perhaps going church or sitting in on a city council meeting. Montgomery is a large city but has very much of the small town feel.Alabama is not an expensive state. However, try to apply for funding early. The $450 a week that PEI allots for interns is more than enough. Also make sure that you have someone who is 20 years old or older on your team. Otherwise you may not be able to rent a car. Trying to get around Montgomery is nearly impossible without a car. In terms of restaurant recommendations, I would highly recommend Lek's Railroad Thai, Hibachi Sushi Supreme Buffet, Martin's Restaurant, Taste of India, and Chappy's Deli.

CHAPTER RESOURCES