MINNESOTA COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER ALLIANCE

STATEWIDE CONFERENCE – JUNE 5, 2014, THE COMMONS HOTEL, MPLS,

Call for Essays or Poetry including Spoken Word on

What makes for outstanding outreach and enrollment assistance?

PLEASE EMAIL OR FAX YOUR ONEPAGE ENTRY NO LATER THAN MAY9TH!

Purpose and Description

Calling all Minnesotanavigators and outreach workers who help uninsured people learn about and get coverage! The Minnesota Community Health Worker (CHW)Alliance invites you to create an essay or poem such as haiku or spoken word on the topic “What makes for outstanding outreach and enrollment assistance?” After all, who knows better than you about what it’s like to be a navigator or an outreach worker---your passion for your community, your impact on health access, how you overcome challenges, what inspires you, and what makes for extraordinary teamwork and performance!

So you know what’s up with an essay –but what about “spoken word”? Here’s what Urban Dictionary has to say: Spoken Word is poetry intended for onstage performance, rather than exclusively designed for the page. While often associated with hip-hop culture, it also has strong ties to storytelling, modern poetry, post-modern performance, and monologue theatre, as well as jazz, blues, and folk music. Due to its immediacy and direct rapport with its audience, this type of poetry often contains references to current events and issues relevant to a contemporary audience. At its best, spoken word is a powerful, high-energy form of expression that attracts artists and audiences of all ages from a wide range of disciplines and socio-cultural backgrounds. For more on spoken word, see:

One or more entries will be selected to be read or performed by their authors at our June 5thstatewide conference at The Commons Hotel, Minneapolis. For more info and to register, visit:

Guidelinesand Selection

It’s easy! First, you need to register to attend the conference. Then, create and submit your own original essay, spoken word piece, or other form of poetry, not to exceed one page, by May 9, 2014. Team up with other outreach workers and navigators if you want! Include an English translation if your one-page piece is written in another language and no MNsure enrollee identifiers, please. Late, incomplete or longer submissions will not be considered. Email or fax your piece along with your name(s), organization(s), email address(es) and daytime phone(s), to:

Tonya Fitzgerald, MN CHW AllianceConference Planning Committee, U of MN SPH

Email:

Fax: 612-625-3407

The Minnesota CHW Alliance will review all submissions. We’re looking for pieces that are informative, creative, moving, and memorable. The awardee(s) will be notified by the end of May. Please note that submissions may be shared at the conference and posted on our website.

Questions? Please contact Joan Cleary at