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Advocacy in Action: How You Can Support Community Health in 2025
As a locally grown and mission focused nonprofit, we depend greatly on support from the communities we serve: Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, and Gilpin counties. This fact is true now more than ever as we face unprecedented uncertainties and financial challenges at both the state and national levels.
According to Simon Smith, our President & CEO:
I have led Clinica as CEO for the past 11 years, and in all my years of work, I have never experienced a period as challenging as the one we now face. The health care safety net is facing a particularly complex storm of challenges.”
Listed below are a few important actions you can take today to stand with Colorado’s safety net providers and ensure they have the funding and support needed to continue serve your community. We will continue updating this page as more advocacy opportunities arise.
1. Help protect Medicaid
The U.S. Congress is considering several reductions to Medicaid that would have serious and significant impacts on our state and the people who depend on this health insurance. Such cuts would be a major blow to community health centers (CHCs) like Clinica Family Health & Wellness and the people we serve. Make your voice heard by urging your members of Congress to protect Medicaid funding. Contact your congressperson
For more background information, visit our blog.
2. Support HB25-1174
Colorado House Bill 1174 (HB25-1174: Reimbursement Requirements for Health Insurers) would deliver critical funding for safety net providers like Clinica Family Health & Wellness, which provides affordable health care to thousands of individuals and families in your community. We need your help! Ask your local elected officials to support HB25-1174.
HB25-1174 is sponsored by Rep. Kyle Brown (Lafayette, Louisville, Superior) and supported by Governor Polis. This bill, modeled after successful legislation in Oregon and Montana, would create a new, annual funding stream into the Primary Care Fund, which is the main source of state funding support to safety net providers like Community Health Centers (CHCs) in caring for uninsured patients. It does so by creating limits on reimbursement to certain hospitals from the state employee health plan and investing a portion of the savings into the Primary Care Fund. This bill also considers additional funding to support Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs). Visit Colorado.gov to learn more.
3. Support federal funding
All federal funding for Community Health Centers expires in March 2025. We need your voice to urge members of Congress to extend and increase Community Health Centers' annual funding in the next government funding package. Please ask Congress to support federal funding for CHCs by calling or emailing your congressional representatives. Find your Congressional Representatives.
Here's a script template you can use when leaving a voicemail:
"Hi, I'm [NAME], a constituent in [CITY, ZIP], and I urge Representative/Senator [NAME] to extend and increase Community Health Centers' annual funding in the next government funding package.
Can I also count on Representative/Senator [NAME] to invest in primary care workforce programs, such as the National Health Services Corps (NHSC) and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program, before the funding deadline?
Without this support, 32.5 million patients could lose access to low-cost, high-quality primary, dental, and behavioral health services. Thank you!”
4. Donate
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions from generous donors are a financial lifeline to so much of the work we do. We depend on this generosity to fund lifesaving community programs, trainings, and resources that we otherwise could not provide through grants, Medicaid/insurance reimbursement, and other funding streams. In light of funding uncertainties, donations from individuals like you are more needed than ever. We could not do this important work without you! Donate today.
5. Stay informed
Join our email list for monthly updates from Clinica Family Health & Wellness delivered to your inbox. In addition to sharing exciting news, upcoming events, and more, we will also share other ways you can support and advocate for community health. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.