1.How to be a Candidate Liaison
Leaders: Laurie Fowler Beckel, MA, PC and Virginia Gebhart
Session goals: Attendees will learn about the 2020 Candidate Liaison Project and skills for engaging candidates
Laurie Fowler Beckel is a health care activist after spending her career as a physician assistant and licensed professional counselor. She serves on the Foundation board and is the volunteer coordinator for the Foundation.
Virginia Gebhart is a retired pharmacist and community organizer for universal health. Through her work as a precinct leader for the Boulder County Democrats, she has learned that legislators really do appreciate hearing from constituents.
2.Engaging Elected Officials
Leaders: State Reps. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, Emily Sirota, and Yadira Caraveo, MD
Session Goals: Attendees will learn effective ways to interact with elected officials
State Rep. Yadira Caraveo, MD is a pediatrician and first-term representative from Adams County. A longtime supporter of single payer health care, she has advocated for progressive health care reforms since her time in residency. In her first session alone she carried prior authorization reform, established a resource network for child abuse victims, and passed legislation to make unprecedented investments in primary care. When she is not fighting for working families in the Capitol she is seeing patients at Peak Pediatrics.
State Rep. Sonya Jaquez Lewis was elected in 2018 and represents Boulder County. She is a registered pharmacist and former Pharmacy Director of Colorado Medicaid. She is an adjunct professor at the Colorado School of Pharmacy. She sponsored several health care reform bills which passed and were signed into law in 2019 including the Health Care Savings Act and a bill to import prescription drugs from Canada.
State Rep. Emily Sirota was elected in 2018 and represents Denver. She is a social worker. She worked for a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator and worked in state government as an Economic Specialist in Montana. Before her election to the legislature, Sirota served as Director of Admissions & Operations at an Early Learning Center. Sirota was one of the prime sponsors and helped to pass and sign into law the Health Care Savings Act.
3.Grassroots Organizing
Leaders: Madeleine Jacobs, MD & Elaine Branjord, RN
Session Goals: To learn options for activism at the local level and how to access resources. Attendees will learn examples of activism across Colorado and how to collaborate with other local organizations and build coalitions.
Madeleine Jacobs, MD is a native Boulderite. She moved to Fremont County in 1988 to practice rural family medicine. She retired in 2017 primarily because she was no longer able to practice effectively due to the corporatization of health care in America. She is a community organizer in the Canon City-Florence area promoting universal health care.
Elaine Branjord, RN is a retired nurse. Elaine worked most of her career caring for young families as they welcomed new babies to their world. She has seen much of health care delivery move to a private for-profit model and wants that to change. She has actively engaged the Ft. Collins community in health care reform advocacy for the past several years.
4. City and County Resolutions for Universal Health
Leaders: Rich Shannon, Arvada City Councilwoman Dot Miller, & Grand County Commissioner Rich Cimono
Session Goals: Attendees will learn why City and County resolutions for universal health care are important, strategies for working with local elected officials regarding a resolution, and how to explain the “local pain” inflicted by our current health care system.
Rich Shannon earned a BS in Engineering Management from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado. He spent four years on active duty before starting a 22-year career in city government including 14 years with the city of Ft. Collins, where he was deputy city manager for part of that time. For more than five years, he has been actively engaged in promoting universal health care and making presentations throughout Colorado.
Grand County Commissioner Rich Cimono graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1994 and served 21 years as an Air Force Intelligence Officer, retiring in 2015. He was elected County Commissioner for Grand County in 2016 and has spent the last three years advocating for access to health care as a member of the Rural Health Network and Counties and Commissioners Acting together.
Arvada City Councilwoman Dot Miller was elected in November, 2017. She owns The Solution, an Association management Company she founded in 2016. Prior to starting her own company, Dot was the CEO of the Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Colorado and the President of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. After owning a business that employed 30 teenagers, Dot founded a non-profit organization called Jefferson County Business Education Alliance to help students become workforce ready. The Denver Post named her one of tomorrows most influential women in Colorado. She is the recipient of the Everyday Hero award from Channel 7.
5. Health Care Savings Act (1176): Next Steps
Leaders: Jim Potter, JD & Ivan Miller, Ph.D.
Session Goals: Attendees will learn about the history, purpose, and next steps forward for the Health Care Savings Act, HB-19-1176, and its place in our legislative agenda.
Jim Potter is a retired civil rights attorney with a BA and JD from Columbia University. He practiced law for 45 years in four states including Colorado. He is the Legislative Coordinator for the Foundation and helped draft the 2019 Health Care Savings Act.
Ivan Miller, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Boulder and Executive Director of the Foundation. He has actively advocated for universal health care for 25 years. Ivan has helped draft multiple pieces of legislation including Amendment 69, ColoradoCare and the 2019 H.B. 1176 Health Care Savings Act.
6. Self Care for Advocates
Leaders: Laura Collins & Cathy Blake
Session Goals: Learners will experience a variety of embodied practice that integrate and celebrate mind, body, and spirit. Learners will explore the joys and pitfalls of activism and brainstorm self-care tips to create a self care plan that works for the attendee.
Cathy Blake runs Heartfocus Counseling. She is a licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with a MA in Somatic Counseling Psychology from Naropa University and an MBA from the University of Colorado. She has led the health care action team of a Arvadans for Progressive Action since 2016.
Laura Collins holds a MS in Public health and runs her own business, Homegrown Yoga and Massage LLC, at the YMCA in Estes Park. She serves as a Boulder County Community Organizer/Advocate for universal health care. She hopes to empower people to create the causes and conditions that make healthier choices easier choices for all.
