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Legislative Request of Community Health Workers and CHW Supporters
The Community Health Worker (CHW) Legislative Action Committee (LAC) is asking CHWs and CHW supporters to reach out to your state representatives and senators to request that CHW strategies are included in the Minnesota State budget. The Governor has included a line item dedicating $971,000 in funding for CHW strategies in the Minnesota Supplemental Budget.
We ask you to support us in the following ways:
1. Become familiar with the CHW Awareness Flier and the Community Health Workers Fact Sheet, the Governor’s request to include CHWs in the state supplemental budget. The Fact sheet is from MDH.
2. Send two emails - one to your State Representative and one to your State Senator asking them to support the CHW line item in the supplemental budget.
How to do this:
● To find out who represents you and their email address, here:
● https://www.gis.lcc.mn.gov/iMaps/districts/
Type in your full address on the left side of the page. Contact the top two people: your Minnesota State House Representative and your Minnesota Senator in St. Paul. You can click on the “Contact” square next to their name.
(Note: This is Minnesota State legislation, so we do not need to contact our Reps and Senators in Washington, DC)
● If you know your Representative and Your Senator, you can use these lists to find their email address
● https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/list
● https://www.senate.mn/members?id=alphabetical
● Personalize this General Letter of Support for CHW Budget template in the body of your email.
You can share the CHW Awareness Flier and the Community Health Workers Fact Sheet with your representative and senator. The Fact sheet is from MDH, and it can be sent with letters to representatives and senators. It tells them MDH is asking for this budget item.
3. Ask CHWs and CHW supporters in your network to complete activities 1 and 2 above.
4. Ask your organization to send an email or letter of support to the chairs of the House Health Finance & Policy Committee, Representative Liebling, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Senator Wiklund.
● Use this organizational letter template
● Copy to info@mnchwalliance.org
5. Offer testimony. We are seeking a list of CHWs, clients, and employers willing to provide testimony at the bill’s hearing: CHWs, supervisors, employers, payers, providers, patients, and their families.
● Are you willing to testify?
● Are you willing to ask a client to join you in testifying and to tell their story of how you helped them?
● Will you ask your supervisor or someone from your organization who can speak to the effectiveness of CHWs be willing to testify?
● We provide a Guidance & Sample Script template for people testifying to use. This can be personalized. Be ready to share a story that illustrates the importance of a CHW. Testimony is limited to 2 to 3 minutes.
● Talking Points are available to support this activity.
● Interested? Contact Anne Ganey (atganey@gmail.com) or Angela Fields (angela.fields@mnchwalliance.org).
6. Talk about this issue on social media. Let people know to support CHW and the line item in the supplemental budget.
Special thanks to everyone's support!
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