If you support health care reform, you can speak your voice through a myriad of ways; whether individually or with an established group, organization or church, you can become an advocate, a supporter and an educator of this cause. We always welcome volunteers and interns to join us at events and at the office, but we also understand that you may want to pursue immigrant health care advocacy and education on your own or through your affiliations.

Below we have listed a few things that you can do to jumpstart your own advocacy efforts and to better inform your community (whether that be a college campus, a congregation or a local neighborhood) on these health care issues.

? If you are not based in St. Louis, contact a non-profit or foundation organization involved with immigrant health care reform and ask how you can best support their efforts, a wonderful way to help lend an organization a more powerful voice for the advocacy they are already pursuing.

? Contact your government representatives with thoughts, concerns, supports or criticisms. These contacts are especially effective when dealing with pending legislation, an issue that your representatives will want constituent input on. Find their emails at www.senate.gov or at www.house.gov; telephone numbers can also be found in the government pages of the phone book or through the Washington DC switchboard (202.224.3121). You can also visit your representatives by attending a home town meeting or asking to schedule a time to meet specifically with your affiliation.

? Write a letter to the editor, the editor of your local newspaper or your university newspaper or local newsletter. Share your opinions and this exposure will hopefully inspire discussion.

? March in a local parade or obtain a booth space at a local festival where you can help pass info sheets and brochures on immigrant health care issues. The act of simply involving others will help educate the broader community on issues they previously considered unimportant and will multiply the influence we can have collectively. The people you talk to and explain the issues to can become future members, solidarity pledge supporters, legislators, etc.

? Plan a creative event, either on your own or with other organizations, to inspire discussion and attention on immigrant health care issues through alternative, more indirect means. For example:

A) Partner with a dance troupe to choreograph a dance down a main street or in a parade with umbrellas saying: "How are you covered?" and our logo. Follow this with people carrying posters sharing important statistics or facts relevant to the cause.
B) Conduct a flash mob in a high density location--be creative with what the flash mob does! Have everyone involved fall to the ground at a particular time to emphasize the failures of the current health care system, for example. Make sure to immediately follow it with posters or flyers informing the public why the flash mob took place, a.k.a. directing them to a particular website or organization or proposed legislation.
C) Hold a campus-wide contest for a 10 minute mini-movie or documentary with the theme of immigrant healthcare. Have a viewing open to the public for all the entries and also involve online voting in some way to involve more people in the cause.

? Plan a panel and invite local experts on immigrant healthcare and the healthcare system to discuss relevant topics, recent reform, failures and controversies. Potential panelists could include professors knowledgeable in the field, hospital administrators and doctors, directors and others involved in organizations dealing with health care advocacy and reform, those affected by the health care system who would be willing to speak out against their obstacles, current and past government representatives, etc. The important thing is to have people knowledgeable in the field be able to provide new perspectives on (immigrant) health care and have an involving discussion or q. and a. session. Make sure to write well-written and insightful questions before the panel begins and also to inform the panelists on the topics and themes that will be covered.

Monetary donations are pivotal to our cause, which are used to cover advocacy and educational costs. If you are interested in fundraising for our organization, this can be done in a plethora of ways: through something small and local like a bake sale or something large and grand-scale like 5K. Be creative! (...but bear in mind what is feasible.)

If you would like to affiliate an educational, advocacy or fundraising event with our organization, please send us an email at message@cihj.org with the name and contact information of your organization, a brief explanation of your event, and what you hope to accomplish with the event. If appropriate to our cause and relevant to our mission, we will reply with our logo for you to use and with our permission to use our name and information. Thank you for your interest!