Family Planning Program Policy Manual

Revision 24-2; Effective Oct. 15, 2024

Within 45 calendar days from the start of each fiscal year, grantees must develop and implement an annual plan for promotion and outreach. Grantees are expected to follow the plan and make the plan available for monitoring purposes. This plan must outline the grantee’s goals to:

• inform the public of the purpose of the program and available services;
• enhance community understanding of its objectives;
• disseminate basic family planning and women’s health care knowledge;
• enlist community support; and
• recruit potential clients for FPP.

The plan must be based on an assessment of the needs of the community and contain an evaluation strategy. Grantees must consider a variety of program promotion and client in-reach and outreach strategies per:

• organizational capacity,
• availability of existing resources and materials, and
• the needs and culture of the local community.

To gauge the efficacy of program promotion and client in-reach and outreach activities, grantees must complete the biannual survey of promotion and outreach activities. This survey is delivered twice a year and is due within 30 days of receipt. 

Survey Sent	Reporting Period	Survey Due Date
Mid-month February	Sept. 1 – Feb. 28 (Q1 & Q2)	Mid-month March
Mid-month August	March 1 – Aug. 30 (Q3 & Q4)	Mid-month September

Submit questions about the surveys to famplan@hhs.texas.gov.

Guidance for Promotion and Outreach Plans

The plan should include how the priority population was determined, a recruitment work plan and in-reach and outreach methods.

Grantees should have many materials and resources to promote community awareness. Grantees must develop and maintain relationships with local partners and collaborators who can help recruit in the priority populations. Grantees must provide HHSC with current clinic location information. Information provided is entered in the Healthy Texas Women Find a Doctor function. That information may be shared with other FPP grantees.

Grantees must include in their outreach plan a description of how they plan to implement strategies to enroll clients in FPP and how to raise community awareness of FPP services. The outreach plan must describe how the grantee plans to:

• identify priority populations in the community;
• identify the populations at highest risk for unintended pregnancies and STIs;
• provide culturally competent health education and social support;
• help reduce participant barriers to accessing clinical services;
• establish relationships with internal and external partners to reach eligible clients in the priority populations;
• establish relationships with clinic sites that offer other HHSC programs, such as the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services Program (BCCS), the Primary Health Care Program and Healthy Texas Women, to increase cross-program referrals, coordination and service provision;
• link and connect participants to partner clinics for Family Planning Program services;
• educate partners, including subgrantees, other health care providers, community organizations, coalitions and local advocacy groups about Medicaid for the Breast and Cervical Cancer (MBCC) program and how to refer a non-BCCS diagnosed client for MBCC screening appropriately;
• educate clients diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer about FPP eligibility requirements and how to apply for services;
• provide information to each eligible client in their primary language; and
• provide access to information that is:
  • culturally sensitive,
  • linguistically appropriate, and
  • available to the visually and hearing impaired.