Healthier Colorado: Engaging Partners in Local Advocacy

"Informed by their travels around the state, the Healthier Colorado staff can tell you there is no shortage of public policy ideas to make communities healthier. What’s missing is the unique resources needed to run the campaigns to make them a reality. That’s where the Partnerships in Local Advocacy (PiLA) program comes in.

With PiLA,  interested community members or organizations in Colorado are being invited to request partnership support from Healthier Colorado in a local public policy campaign. You can read more about the program here.

Here’s how the program works:
1. Check out the details in their areas of interest, the types of support they offer and the public policy phase that PiLA addresses.
2. Submit a letter of intent by July 1 to tell them a bit more about your solution to the problem you want to solve.
3. If it's a good fit, they'll ask you to complete an application by Sept 2.
4. Partners will be announced on October 3.

Local policy makes a big impact on health. That’s why they chose to launch an initiative, which is believed to be first of its kind in the nation, to empower locally generated public policy ideas. You can share this opportunity by visiting this page and clicking the Facebook or Twitter share buttons at the top, or just share via email or word of mouth. Let’s get the word out so we can harness the best ideas that Coloradans have to offer."

[Source:  Healthier Colorado]

Local Public Policy Partnership Opportunity

"Local public policy has a big impact on health, and Healthier Colorado wants to empower locally generated ideas to improve health. That’s why they've launched the Partnerships in Local Advocacy (PiLA) program. Any interested individual or organization is invited to submit a letter of intent to request support for a local public policy campaign within the locality in which they reside or serve. PiLA is focused on campaigns to influence public policy decisions made by city councils, county commissions, and school or special district boards that require “lobbying activity[1]” as defined under the IRS code. The proposed campaign should be within our areas of interest.  Deadline for letter of intent is July 1, 2016. Click here for more deadline information.
[Source:  Healthier Colorado]

Healthier Colorado – "We’re not done listening"

“We just completed our statewide tour to introduce our organization (Healthier Colorado) to folks around their state and gather their perspectives on how to get Colorado healthier. The tour has taken us to eight cities all across the state of Colorado, from the Eastern Plains, to the Western Slope, to the San Luis Valley, to the Front Range. In each city, we met with local community health advocates and leaders. We met with elected officials, health care providers in hospitals and clinics, school administrators and health activists. We talked about some of the great work they're doing to improve the health of their communities, as well as some of the challenges they're facing.

While each one of these communities is unique, some common themes emerged over the course of our trip. All across the state, people said they want to continue to advance the quality of our healthcare system while also reducing the rise of costs and to make our system as efficient as navigable as possible. We heard widespread concern about components to support healthy living, including access to affordable and healthy food as well as physical infrastructure and school curriculum to support physical activity. A desire for better cultural competency was cited in the interest of better communication with the Latino community. Finally, rural communities described challenges that were particularly pronounced in their communities, including access to health care providers.

Enlightened by these conversations, we're exploring new ideas for campaigns to improve public policy at the state and local level. Even though our statewide listening tour has concluded, we are still very much in listening mode. We always want to hear your ideas about how we can #GetCOHealthier. Check us out on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Instagram, and let us know your ideas. It will take all of our voices and ideas to make Colorado as healthy a state as we can be.” [Source: Healthier Colorado]

Introducing Healthier Colorado

“There are many organizations in our state that do fantastic advocacy work within the realm of healthcare. But there's never been an organization with health policy change as its primary focus -- until now, that is. We're proud to announce the launch of Healthier Colorado, our state’s first and only organization devoted exclusively to improving public policy to promote a healthier population.  We'll have a broad and bipartisan policy focus, centered on:

• Advancing healthy living through nutritious food and physical activity
• Expanding healthcare coverage for Coloradans
• Improving the quality of healthcare in our state.

We want to build a grassroots constituency for health policy change, because our elected officials should hear from Coloradans who want a healthier state. Our health is worth dedicated political advocacy, and we hope you’ll join us in getting Colorado healthier.” [Source: Healthier Colorado]