Health Center Week Tools
 
Community Health Vote
Nonpartisan Voter Engagement.
Power for your Health Center. Clout for your community.
The right to vote is a cornerstone of our democracy. In exercising their responsibilities concerning voter registration, health centers hold the key to ensuring that our democracy remains robust and resilient. The very nature of Health Centers makes them an integral part of how low income Americans and immigrants are involved in and integrated into American society and a natural place for helping them take the step to be more informed and civically engaged. We also believe that civic engagement and advocacy can help FQHCs meet their organization's mission and maximize effectiveness by educating and engaging the public. By fully and energetically working to engage staff, board and patients, health centers can help ensure that the promise of our democracy is fully realized.
Community Health Vote (CHV) believes that Community, Migrant and Homeless Health Centers can be 'sleeping giants'¯ of the democratic process. Your Center has immense credibility and trust among the people you serve, and access to potential voters who have often been underrepresented in the electoral process. Your position in the community provides you with the power to be the catalyst for a dramatic increase in voter participation through legal, permissible, nonpartisan voter engagement activities-- voter registration, voter education, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV).
Community Health Vote has two primary goals:
1. to increase voter and civic participation by Health Center staff, board, volunteers and clients
to build and expand the capacity of America's Health Centers
2. to integrate nonpartisan voter engagement activities into their ongoing work
Why Community Health Vote?
• Community health centers care for millions of people each year. Many of the communities you serve are underrepresented in public life. Oftentimes, these are the same populations who are not voting in high numbers and whose needs are regularly marginalized by government and elected officials.
• Health care providers maintain long-term and trusting relationships with clients. A message about the importance of voter and civic engagement coming from a trusted community source is likely to elicit action.
Voting improves people's lives! That's right. People who vote are more likely to invest in their community, volunteer, obey laws and advocate for issues that matter to them.
• Power for your center and clout for your community. Elected officials know which communities turn out to vote and if your health center is engaging voters, elected officials will take notice and will likely respond better to your advocacy efforts.
• Community Health Vote wants to help you! We understand that Health Centers are operating at capacity and working overtime to meet the needs of your community. This is why we have developed and tailored materials and trainings specifically for you. CHV can help to integrate voter engagement into your daily work without creating more work.
What does Community Health Vote do?
Training for your Health Center: All you have to do is ask! We will customize trainings to fit the needs and capacity of your center and arrive at your door with all of the materials, information and encouragement you need to get your clinic voterized!
Materials and online resources: CHV's free and accessible materials are designed to make it easy for busy health centers to integrate voter engagement into your daily work. Nonpartisan VOTE t-shirts and posters, jurisdiction-specific election information, how-to toolkits on voter engagement at your clinic and so much more.
Guidance on legal questions: Do you have questions about what kinds of activities your health center can engage in legally? Call or email the CHV team.
One-on-one coaching: Are you interested in civic engagement, but unsure of how to integrate it into the work of your health center? Need to know where to get your voter registration applications? Whatever it is, CHV wants to help.
Join the movement for Community Health Center engagement >>.
Tools and Resources for Community Health Vote >>.
© 1965 - Present; National Association of Community Health Centers
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