Getting Support for Onboarding New Title X Staff in Texas
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My favorite thing from the RHNTC are the live events like webinars and office hours because I am an auditory learner and these events give us an open, safe space to ask questions and help us connect—which is particularly important when you are new to Title X.Metzli Navarro Gonzalez, Title X Project Director, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas
A wave of retirements, burnout and retention challenges, new agencies joining the Title X network—all of these realities mean that Title X agencies across the country are onboarding new staff in what feels like record numbers.
For Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas (PPGT), the need to onboard new staff was a result of rejoining the Title X network as a direct services grantee in 2022. With four direct service sites and two subrecipient agencies, PPGT is a big network with a lot of staff to onboard. To complement their in-house trainings, PPGT staff turned to the RHNTC for onboarding resources and events, many of which are already packaged in an easy-to-assign, easy-to-track New Title X Staff Orientation training list.
Those resources have been a game changer for Metzli Navarro Gonzalez, who joined PPGT last year as a Health Services Grant Senior Project Manager and the Title X Project Director. Metzli came to PPGT with experience working at a Federally Qualified Health Center and quickly realized that Title X is a complicated program with its own set of rules and regulations.
Following the RHNTC’s training list for new staff helped get Metzli up to speed on Title X specifics and other important family planning context, with videos and eLearning courses on topics including cultural competency, identifying and responding to human trafficking, and other foundational topics.
Browsing rhntc.org, Metzli has discovered other resources that she’s now using in her new role, like the Title X Policy Templates, I&E Materials Review Toolkit, and Understanding FPAR Definitions job aid.
Metzli’s advice for new Title X staff? “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Especially for someone who doesn’t come from a Title X background, a lot of questions can be answered through your Project Officer, the Clinical Training Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health (CTC-SRH), and the RHNTC.”
She adds a final note of encouragement: “Keep fighting the good fight. It can be really exhausting sometimes but know that we are doing good work especially when you are in a state like Texas; we are so grateful for the communities we serve to have access to these essential services!”