Dear ACH Members,

Over the past six weeks, we have shared tools to help you identify candidates, invite them into your health centers, educate them about the issues affecting your communities and begin building the next generation of health center champions.

Now it is time to turn that engagement into long-term relationships.

Election Day may mark the end of a campaign, but it should not mark the end of the conversation. The connections you are building will now lay the groundwork for educating future policymakers, advancing community health center priorities and preparing for the next Congress.

As the final email in ACH’s How to Build a Health Center Champion Before They’re Elected email advocacy series, we’d like to remind you of a couple of key engagement opportunities.

Before Election Day

• Thank every candidate and campaign that engaged with your health center.

• Send a follow-up email reinforcing your willingness to serve as a trusted resource.

• Document what you learned, including the candidate’s interests, questions, and commitments, and identify opportunities for continued engagement.

• Complete ACH’s candidate survey for each campaign your health center met with to record candidates’ positions on the Community Health Center Fund, 340B, Medicaid, workforce challenges, and access to care.

• Identify one appropriate next step for maintaining each relationship after the election.

After Election Day

• Congratulate successful candidates and introduce, or reintroduce, your health center as a local resource.

• Continue appropriate relationships with candidates who were not elected. They may remain influential community leaders, pursue other public service roles, or seek office in the future.

• Begin planning early opportunities to engage newly elected officials, including facility tours, staff briefings, and meetings with health center leaders and patients. These can take place before the new Congress is sworn in.

Resources for Week 6:

• Candidate Engagement Survey

Whether a candidate wins or loses, continuing the relationship matters. By staying connected and continuing to educate policymakers, we can ensure that community health centers remain part of the conversation during campaigns, throughout the next Congress and beyond.

This week’s call to action: Complete the ACH Candidate Engagement Survey.

Please use the survey to share what you’ve learned about the candidates’ understanding of and views on the Community Health Center Fund, 340B, Medicaid, workforce shortages, and access to care in the communities they hope to represent. We also encourage you to share your completed surveys with the ACH team. Your responses will help us identify follow-up opportunities and prepare for targeted engagement with the next Congress.

Thank you for participating in this series and for helping make community health a priority throughout the election cycle. Together, we are helping candidates understand the essential role that health centers play in their communities and building the relationships that can turn today’s candidates into tomorrow’s health center champions in Congress.  

Sincerely,

Molly Grady

Director of Policy & Government Affairs