November 16, 2023

Back to Member Briefs

November 16, 2023

AMCHP Annual Conference

Have you saved the date for the 2 024 Annual Conference? Mark your calendars to join us April 13-16, 2024, at the Oakland Marriott City Center, in Oakland, California! We will continue to offer content in-person and virtually through our conference platform with the theme Partnering with Purpose. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our Annual Conference Newsletter to be the first to receive updates and information about the conference, and share the link with your peers!

Conference Platform is Now LIVE

Everything about AMCHP 2024 is now available in one place! Visit our conference platform to view the schedule at-a-glance (which includes opportunities for networking and skill-building sessions as well as plenty of impactful workshops and inspiring plenary sessions.), hotel and travel information, and much more!

Early Bird Registration is OPEN

Early Bird registration for the 2024 AMCHP Annual Conference is now open! Register to attend in person or virtually by February 12, 2024, to take advantage of the early bird pricing. Visit our conference platform to view more information regarding registration rates, including discounted rates for youth/students, community-based organizations, tribal entities, and family leaders.

Are you not sure whether you will attend in person or virtually? You can change your attendance status without penalties until March 11, 2024.

Start planning your attendance and register now to secure your spot!

Now Accepting Hotel Reservations

You can now make your hotel reservation to attend AMCHP 2024 in person. Book your stay at the Oakland Marriott in Oakland, CA, by March 16, 2024, or until the block sells out. We look forward to seeing you!

Support Youth, Family Leaders, Community-Rooted Partners, and Representatives of Tribal Entities at Our Upcoming Annual Conference

Our annual conference is fast approaching. While we can’t wait to see you at AMCHP 2024, we also recognize the deep value of having youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, community-based organizations (CBOs), community-rooted partners, and representatives of tribal entities attend as well.

AMCHP has composed a letter from our President and CEO providing further details about ways to support these individuals to attend. We shared a similar letter last year, and based on our conference evaluation, it inspired jurisdictions to financially support 10 youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, CBOs, community-rooted partners, and tribal government representatives to participate. Nearly a quarter of those who received the letter indicated that it helped them build or strengthen relationships with the individuals that they sponsored to attend the conference.

We are hopeful that this letter will have the same, or an even larger, impact this year. We also hope that it inspires you and your colleagues to have conversations about ways that you can further partner with purpose and support these individuals and groups in your own work.

Check out our conference registration page for more information.

AMCHP Annual Conference Scholarship

The AMCHP Annual Conference Scholarship aims to invite and financially support youth and young adult leaders (including students), family leaders, community‐based organizations (CBOs), and representatives of tribal entities involved with MCH efforts to attend. Often community members and youth and young adults are not involved, integrated, or prioritized when it comes to the various policies and programs that impact their peers and families. Cultivating and sustaining relationships with diverse leaders cannot be achieved without amplifying, supporting, and compensating the efforts of community leaders who contribute to the vitality of maternal and child health. This effort ties directly into the overall theme of partnership for this year’s upcoming conference while also being a focus of AMCHP’s strategic plan around partnership development.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT?

AMCHP is committed to providing a space and audience so that the talent and expertise of community representatives is recognized and integrated in MCH priorities. Fostering an environment at the conference to learn from, network with, and share insights with one another is a great opportunity for you to do so as well! We believe that supporting representatives to attend the conference will increase your program’s capacity in youth and community engagement as well as leadership development and will be a meaningful step toward building and sustaining trusting relationships with these groups in your state or jurisdiction.

We encourage you to visit our conference registration page and consider making the financial investment to send youth and young adults, family leaders, CBOs, and representatives of tribal entities from your state or jurisdiction to the conference either in-person or virtually.

New Blog Post – Bridging Communities Through Strategic Partnerships: AMCHP 2024 Partnering with Purpose

As maternal and child health (MCH) professionals, our purpose remains at the heart of every decision, collaboration, and initiative we undertake. This year, as we focus on intentional impact, we introduce our 2024 AMCHP Annual Conference theme: Partnering with Purpose. AMCHP has always believed that collaboration isn’t just about joining forces, but coming together with intent, direction, and vision to make an impact for communities.

The AMCHP 2024 theme acknowledges a foundational concept: while we are powerful as individuals, our true strength is magnified through collaboration. It calls upon each of us in the MCH community to be deliberate about who we partner with and how we forge these relationships. Through this idea, we are choosing a path rooted in authenticity as we seek to amplify the voices of those we serve, understand power dynamics, and ensure that our joint efforts reflect genuine respect and mutual goals.  [read more]

AMCHP Announcements

Never miss our updates! Sign up for our newsletters, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Call for New AMCHP Association Committee Members is Now Open!

AMCHP is pleased to announce that our 2024 Call for New Association Committee Members is now open! You can now easily apply by filling out the new committee member application!

The AMCHP Association Committees assist our organization in carrying out our mission, goals, and strategic plan. Committees provide critical guidance to our board and staff and recommendations for policy analysis and development and are comprised of AMCHP members, board members, family representatives, and staff liaisons. They may also include representatives from federal agencies and involve partner organizations when appropriate.

Join one of our committees below. We offer seven options to choose from that align with your passion, work, and interests.

AMCHP Annual Conference
Governance
Family LEAD
Health Equity
Legislative & Health Care Policy
MCH Innovations
Workforce and Leadership Development

To learn more about our committees, please visit our website.

Why Become an AMCHP Association Committee Member?

Committees are an excellent opportunity to affect meaningful change nationally and have your voice heard on maternal and child health matters. Serving as a committee member also offers rich professional development opportunities and, potentially, provides a future pathway toward greater leadership roles at AMCHP.

How to Apply?

AMCHP requires all committee volunteers to be active members of our organization. If you are not an active member, you are welcome to join us – It’s very easy! Please visit our website to learn more about becoming a member of AMCHP.

To apply to be newly appointed to one of our committees, serving from January through December 2024, active members of our organization are encouraged to fill out our new committee member application by EOD Wednesday, December 6.

The call for new committee members will remain open throughout the year, and you may be contacted as committee openings arise.

If you have any questions about becoming a member of an AMCHP Association Committee, please contact us at info@amchp.org. For more information, please visit our website and stay up to date by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Share this information with your peers! Download our Call for New Committee Member informational flyer.

Recent AMCHP Announcements

New From AMCHP

AMCHP Launches the Healthy Beginnings Learning Bundles

AMCHP’s Women’s and Infant Health team is excited to announce the launch of the Healthy Beginnings with Title V Learning Bundles– an immersive experience designed to support equitable partnerships between Title V and community-based organization participants, center bi-directional learning of anti-racist strategies to improve perinatal health and highlight areas of improvement for Title V to address.

In December 2022, a learning and practice cohort, comprised of six state maternal and child health (MCH) agencies and six local birth justice organizations, convened for an 18-month-long journey to identify action plans that address racism in policy, data, and funding structures at the state level that sustain inequities in perinatal health. Through continuous conversations, AMCHP worked with cohort members and a range of collaborators to create a curriculum that addresses the needs of community-rooted organizations and identifies the levels and impacts of racism in everyday MCH practice.

These learning bundles provide foundational materials and resources for Title V and other MCH agencies to aid in the process of strengthening racial health equity competence. The resources center topical areas of expressed interest and requests from the cohort, and reflect the expertise of the community partners, Steering Committee members, AMCHP staff, and Title V participants. AMCHP is excited to share with you the curriculum developed by the Healthy Beginnings team!

Here’s a preview of what you’ll get to experience through the learning bundles:

Explore how the Healthy Beginnings Cohort was created.
Practice ways of reframing conventional public health terms in the Conversation on Harm Reducing Language learning bundle.
Create guidelines on protecting community intellectual property in the Protecting Community Intellectual Property learning bundle.
Learn ways to shift power dynamic structures that threaten equitable partnership in Understanding Power Dynamics and Privilege learning bundle.
Address how white supremacy culture and anti-Blackness foster environments of scarcity and stifle relationship and power-building in the Collaboration NOT Competition learning bundle.

Visit our webpage for more information and to access the learning bundles! Email wih@amchp.org for any assistance using the site or questions.

New Food Security Topic Page Available on AMCHP’s Website

AMCHP is excited to share that our new food security topic page is now available on our website! This interactive collection of resources highlights policies and practices that promote culturally relevant solutions to address inequities in food security for maternal and child health (MCH) populations.

AMCHP’s approach to increasing food security includes uplifting the existing community-rooted organizations and families whose well-being has been impacted by low food security and working alongside them as partners. The goal of this initiative is to support Title V MCH programs in their current and future work collaborating with a range of partners, including:

Community-rooted organizations;
Families impacted by low food security; and
Federal and state nutrition programs.

The new topic page features:

Food Security Practices and Programs Database: Explore our searchable database designed to help you find practices and programs that promote equitable solutions that address food security. You can customize your search parameters to meet your specific needs and interests.
Title V Food Security Snapshots: Discover a series of snapshots of each jurisdiction that currently has a State Performance Measure prioritizing food security.
AMCHP’s Project Highlights & Partnerships: Learn about some of AMCHP’s intentional partnerships and projects we have led or been a part of addressing food security, including our early childhood nutrition learning modules.
Additional Resources: Check out some resources from our partners at the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists surrounding food and nutrition policy, programs, and services.

Visit the Food Security topic page to access these resources and learn more about how you can use these resources to create equitable, community-engaged solutions to address disparities in food security.

For additional questions or feedback related to this topic page, please contact Ellisa Alvarez (ealvarez@amchp.org).

AMCHP Information & Resources

2023 Medicaid Renewal Process Update

As of November 8, according to Kaiser Family Foundation Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker, over 10 million people have lost their Medicaid coverage due to the national Medicaid redetermination process, which is ongoing through March 2024. The volume of renewals – and the state capacity to manage them – presents a significant risk for coverage loss, particularly in MCH populations.

As AMCHP continues to monitor this issue, we encourage you to visit AMCHP’s Resource Library and filter by “Promoting Coverage for MCH” to find more information, facts sheets, toolkits, webinar recordings, and more.

We also invite you to visit our latest blog post that covers the current landscape of the Medicaid unwinding process, and recommendations for what MCH advocates can do to improve the redetermination process for children and families.

Be sure to also follow AMCHP on social media as we will continue to post timely information, resources, and events on this topic. If you have any questions or want to connect with an AMCHP team member on this topic, please contact Stacy Collins at scollins@amchp.org.

Legislation & Policy

Explore our revamped Maternal & Child Health Bill Tracker for more information about pending federal legislation to improve maternal health. Also, download AMCHP’s 2023 Federal Policy Agenda outlining where we intend to focus our advocacy work.

AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Halls

Thank you to those of you who joined us for AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Halls. You can find the full recordings of past Town Halls on our Government Affairs webpage.

Town Halls for this year have concluded but check back in January for the updated cadence and registration link.

Opportunities & Funding

AMCHP Career Center: Connecting Talent with Opportunity

AMCHP lists the top jobs available in our industry. Access the AMCHP Career Center to search and apply for open positions or post your jobs and opportunities! Search for Jobs | Post a Job. 

AMCHP Career Opportunities

Be part of our team! AMCHP is seeking individuals for the role listed below. AMCHP offers a 100% virtual work/telework environment for all positions.

Chief Government Affairs Officer: This position is accountable for the development and implementation of AMCHP’s public policy and government affairs strategies and the advancement of maternal and child health (MCH) in the U.S. by working on initiatives that support AMCHP’s legislative agenda. This individual maintains a commitment to dismantling structural racism and rebuilding the policy systems that serve our communities in ways that center racial and other forms of equity. The position reports to the CEO. [learn more and apply]

Publications & Resources

CDC Releases Updated Data on Congenital Syphilis in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated data on the state of congenital syphilis in the United States in its new resource “Vital Signs: Missed opportunities for Preventing Congenital Syphilis – United States, 2022”.

Key Findings:

Congenital syphilis cases in the United States increased 755% during 2012–2021.
In 2022, a total of 3,761 cases of congenital syphilis in the United States were reported to CDC, including 231 (6%) stillbirths and 51 (1%) infant deaths.
Lack of timely testing and adequate treatment during pregnancy contributed to 88% of cases of congenital syphilis.
Testing and treatment gaps were present in the majority of cases across all races, ethnicities, and U.S. Census Bureau regions.

Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage for more information on this study’s findings.

New PH WINS Research Brief: Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis

As the providers of essential public health services, the state and local government public health workforce is uniquely positioned to take on the root causes of structural racism in communities nationwide. A new Research Brief analyzing data from the 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) provides the first exploration of government public health employees’ views on addressing racism as a public health crisis, how much they have been involved in such efforts, and the resources and supports they believe they need to take on racial justice work within public health agency contexts.

Key findings:

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of state and local government public health employees believe that addressing racism as a public health crisis should be part of their work within their agencies. However, only about 4 in 10 (39%) employees reported being highly engaged in such efforts.
A strong majority of public health agency executives (81%) believe that addressing racism should be part of their work.
Over half of the government public health workforce (58%) believes they lack adequate funding to address racism as a public health crisis. Nationally, employees reported needing more training, community engagement, and support from agency leadership to address racism in their work.

With equity at the center of the 10 Essential Public Health Services, the government public health workforce cannot genuinely promote and protect the health of all people unless it is working to eradicate the structural oppression that perpetuates health inequities. Learn more about what public health agencies at the federal, state, and local level can do to continue this work.

AAP Infographic and Video Series: Supporting Youth and Young Adults with Spina Bifida in Health Care Transition

Effective care coordination is critical to a successful transition of care for youth and young adults with spina bifida. These illustrative guides (available in English and Spanish) serve to reinforce the value added to having a care coordination team to support youth and young adults with spina bifida as they transition from pediatric to adult focused healthcare, while highlighting the unique needs of individuals with spina bifida. It also helps pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in supporting youth and young adults through the healthcare transition process. Additionally, these 6 educational videos highlight key timelines for health care transition (HCT) from pediatric to adult-focused health care, and strengthening collaboration and coordination between clinicians, specifically for youth and young adults with spina bifida. Building on other efforts to support the HCT process, these videos additionally aim to emphasize the needs of individuals with spina bifida and address support for cognitive and physical challenges which could impact self-management and quality of life. Visit the  American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Spina Bifida page to view and download these resources.