Women In Government, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit, ? Bipartisan organization of women state legislators, is submitting this Small Grant Program for Conference Support (R13) grant proposal to the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality to provide partial funding for the Women In Government 2008 Outreach to Vulnerable Populations Conference: Healthcare Disparities in America on April 10-12, 2008 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference will convene expert forums, educational resources, and networking opportunities on substance abuse prevention for state legislators, government agency representatives, and members of the scientific community. The goal of the conference is to promote science to service strategies by linking the policy and scientific communities. Conference participants will collaborate to develop a plan of action for improving the state systems to reduce health disparities and address strategies to improve rural healthcare. Following the conference, Women In Government will conduct evaluations, interviews, and tracking to measure if conference outcomes were achieved, and to identify participants who are championing this issue will be identified for case studies on best practices. Case studies will be compiled and shared with conference participants and online. All resources developed prior, during, and post conference will be made available publicly through the Women In Government website and through mailings to conference participants. ? ? ?