ORLANDO, Fla. — Covian Consulting, a UCF Business Incubator company that helps institutions and community organizations create and manage research, program evaluation, strategies, and staff development, recently earned a contract from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) to evaluate a pilot campaign on abortion care issues.
Maritza Concha, Ph.D., principal at Covian Consulting, said the NLIRH based in New York engaged her firm to conduct surveys and evaluate the Yo Te Apoyol (I support you) campaign that will be launched nationally to increase public awareness, to influence changes in attitudes and behavior toward abortion care for Latinas in the United States.
The Yo Te Apoyol campaign is being pilot tested in Miami and Orlando and Covian Consulting’s evaluation of the project, which will conclude in less than 9 months, will determine what worked and what didn’t. ‘The findings of our evaluation will be determined by mid-December and used to address needed improvements before the campaign launches nationally,” Dr. Concha explained.
The work of the NLIRH focuses on access to safe and affordable abortion services, access to quality reproductive health and preventive services, as well as fairness and impartiality for the health and rights of immigrant women and their families.
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About the UCF Business Incubation Program
The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has helped over 390 local startup companies reach their potential faster by providing vital business development resources.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Apopka, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2014/15 and 2015/16 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped to sustain more than 4,710 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of over $725 million on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned $7.41 in state and local taxes for every $1.00 invested in the program. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.