> NQC News | Training on Coaching Basics (TCB) Session: June 17-19, Dallas, TX 

NQC's Training on Coaching Basics (TCB) Program is designed to close any educational gaps of quality managers and to increase individual quality improvement competencies. It also builds the participants' capacity as quality leaders to coach other HIV providers on quality improvement. The TCB is a 3-day face-to-face session, plus pre-work activities and post-course work. Participants will:

• Increase mastery of effectively coaching HIV providers to establish and sustain effective quality management programs and quality improvement teams

• Enhance ability to conduct organizational assessments, provide constructive feedback, and develop effective action plans based on assessment findings

• Improve confidence in understanding behaviors and interventions that promote a systems approach to quality management by using partnerships and shared vision

• Improve self-awareness of individual coaching style and of personal working style and limitations that may contribute to interpersonal tensions

   

 The TCB Program is designed for individuals who work in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program-funded grantees, are instrumental in managing existing quality management programs, and are charged in assisting other agencies within their network with advancing their quality management programs and quality improvement activities. Training participants must have successfully completed the Training-of-Trainer (TOT) or the Training of Quality Leaders (TQL) Program.

For more information about the TCB, including the training materials and slides | http://nationalqualitycenter.org/index.cfm/5847/37251 

To apply for the upcoming TCB session | https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQWKDHQ .

> NQC 10^th Anniversary | Reflections from the Field: The Value of Fellowships

While the mission of the NQC is to provide quality-related technical assistance to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS community, like so many HIV organizations we do so much more. One way we go beyond our mission is by providing internships and fellowships to young public health professionals-helping to train a new generation of professionals who go on to do amazing things. Maria May, an NQC fellow in 2006, is an example. An interest in HIV brought her to NQC, where she worked for close to 8 months. She then went on to work on global health issues and is currently a senior program manager for the Social Innovation Lab and Microfinance Programme at BRAC, a Bangladesh-based organization. BRAC is world-wide nonprofit agency reaching135 million people with services like health, education, and microfinance in 11 countries.

NQC has a relationship with Harvard's Center for Public Interest, which helps graduating students find opportunities to work in the social sector. Over the years, 8 graduates, including Maria, have completed fellowships with the NQC.

While a student at Harvard, Maria wrote her thesis on mothers with HIV in Chicago who had interacted with children protection services, examining their lives and making policy recommendations on how to improve their health outcomes. After graduating in 2006, she participated in a fellowship with the NQC. During the fellowship she worked on the Training-of-Trainers sessions, developed online and written curriculum and resources, and wrote profiles of New York-based organizations providing services to people with HIV and identified their best practices.

"My fellowship gave me a much better sense of the challenges faced by the city government, service providers, and clients in HIV care," says Maria. "I was really affected by our community advisory meetings and the feedback that the members provided about the experiences of people in their community. In visiting harm reduction facilities, I also gained a deeper understanding of how poverty really made it difficult to adhere to HIV treatment and the need for comprehensive support."

In addition to learning more about the challenges faced by service providers and people living with HIV, Maria enhanced her skills in a number of areas.

"I learned to listen and to synthesize broad experiences--important skills for enabling a culture of innovation," says Maria. "NQC helped me understand the complexities of systems and multiple stakeholders trying to work together; these are realities in any situation, especially working in global development."

It is important to remember that fellowships and internships also benefit the organization in many ways.

"Fellows offer new perspectives and enthusiasm. They challenge the status quo," says Maria. "If inspired and managed appropriately, they can bring new perspectives to the organization and provide support for things that no one else ever has time for. As they move on in their careers, they can become ambassadors and spread ideas or philosophies wherever they go."