Minnesotans will share health care concerns and ideas, March 11 "Community Conversations" will be linked via Internet
Conversations will take place in the following communities: Albert Lea, Andover, Brainerd, Cloquet, Hutchinson, Marshall, Moorhead, Roseau and St. Paul. Location addresses can be found at the Minnesota First website, www.mnfirst.org.
Individuals interested in participating in one of the conversations can register at www.mnfirst.org. To ensure everyone has a chance to be heard, the conversation groups will be limited to no more than 20 people, and you must be registered to participate.
The local conversations will be linked together, via the Internet, Each group will be guided by a local facilitator. A central moderator and team of theme analysts will identify main themes of the conversations and report them back to the local groups so participants can further discuss and rank them in importance. Conversation participants will address two questions: What concerns, if any, do you have about your health care coverage plan or that of your family? And: If you were in control of changing one thing about your healthcare coverage to make it better for you, what would that change be?
Each participant will receive discussion materials prior to the event. These materials are being prepared by experts in the health care field and reviewed for accuracy and lack of bias.
Minnesota First Nonprofit is organizing the community conversations, in partnership with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, the University of Minnesota Extension Service, a number of community organizations and volunteers. Funding has been provided by the Otto Bremer Foundation. A report on the community conversations’ major themes will be sent afterward to participants, the media, members of the state legislature’s Health Care Access Commission, and local government officials. These themes will be used to formulate discussion topics for a larger, statewide “21st Century Town Meeting” at a later date. The themes will also be posted on a website so participants and other site visitors can follow up on the conversations and continue to share information and views with each other. “Our goal is to increase the level of informed citizen input in our state’s policymaking process, “ said Carol Eastlund, director of Minnesota First Nonprofit. People today are very busy, yet they still want to have their thoughts and ideas included in decisions that affect us all. Community conversations provide an opportunity for people to be heard.” Minnesota First is a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging Minnesotans in governance.
