HARP Research Findings
This report shares perspectives from community-based organizations regarding community resource referral platforms, such as NowPow. Findings are from 2023 of THT’s Highlighting and Assessing Referral Platform Participation (HARP) research project.
(HARP) was a collaboration between THT and the Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network (SIREN) at the University of California, San Francisco. It was a two-year study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Aligning Systems for Health program facilitated by the Georgia Health Policy Center.
Highlights/key findings include:
- Four strategies were implemented to increase uptake (a centralized referral hub, monthly data insights, tailored training, and a communication campaign) were tested. While some were well-received, none of these strategies effectively increased the platform’s use.
- Trenton CBOs value the up-to-date, searchable community directory, but the value of electronic referrals is less obvious, especially for organizations that don’t provide case management.
- Pre-existing referral systems and processes, pre-existing familiarity with community resources, and stretched human resources all contribute to CBOs not adopting the community referral technology.
- Platform implementers may want to consider a slower, phased approach to implementation that focuses on organizations for whom the platform provides value.
