Health Outreach Partners (HOP) recently finalized and debuted our new Theory of Change—a way to visually represent how we contribute to desired change in the world. We express our long-standing beliefs that health care is a human right. We recommit to the idea that fighting for health equity means standing up for equal access and opportunities for people to lead healthy and dignified lives. We underscore that outreach is key to creating trusting relationships and ensuring access to quality care for marginalized and vulnerable communities. The Silent Crisis Convening Series on Health & Immigration encapsulates these values and beliefs.
Currently, there is an anti-immigrant climate sweeping the nation. It is instilling fear and mistrust, and generating misinformation among immigrant communities. The current environment is forcing immigrants and their families to live quietly and out of view, unable to fully participate in or be supported by their communities. This “silent crisis” has many consequences, one of which is that immigrants and their families are choosing to forgo necessary health services, resulting in complications for their physical, mental, and behavioral health.
We asked ourselves, what more could HOP do to support Community Health Workers (CHW) and their outreach efforts to immigrant families currently experiencing this fear and mistrust. Given the limited opportunities available to CHWs to network, share stories, and learn from one another, we developed the idea to coordinate and facilitate a CHW convening series to directly address the negative impact of the current anti-immigrant climate. The convening will provide an opportunity for CHWs to discuss challenges and together develop solutions that work for their community. These findings will inform an update to the Silent Crisis resource that we developed several years ago. We plan to disseminate this updated resource nation-wide, as well as, share key highlights, messages, and personal stories with health center leaders and policy makers across the country.
Northwest Regional Primary Care Association formally partnered with HOP last month to expand these events beyond California and bring them to CHW’s in Oregon and Washington states. A total of four convenings will be held from June through August 2017. Given the restrictions with our federal funding, and the compressed time frame for this event, we need your support through individual donations and sponsorships. If you are interested in learning more about these events, what we are hoping to accomplish, or would like to directly support them, please visit the Silent Crisis Convening page on our website.