By Chery Manon, Senior Communications Manager, AMCHP

In November, AMCHP announced the launch of the 2025 AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship, an opportunity for individuals and organizations interested in supporting diverse maternal and child health (MCH) leaders to attend the 2025 AMCHP Annual Conference and make a lasting impact on the MCH field.

This month, we sat with two members of the workgroup behind this initiative, Lynda Krisowaty, AMCHP’s Associate Director of Evidence and Implementation, and Candice Simon, AMCHP’s Program Manager of Workforce Development and Capacity Building, to learn about the scholarship and its impact in previous years.

What is the AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship, and why was it created?

Lynda: The AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship is an opportunity for individuals and organizations to provide financial support to youth and young adult leaders, including students; family leaders; community-based organizations and community-rooted partners; Indigenous people and Indigenous-led organizations; and tribal governments in attending the AMCHP Annual Conference. It was created for our 2021 conference, and since then, thanks to our sponsors and core funding, 112 individuals have been supported to share their work at our conference.

Candice: This scholarship was established to alleviate the financial burden of attending the AMCHP conference for these individuals, particularly from smaller organizations. By reducing the financial strain, the scholarship aims to highlight the value of their participation and their incredible work. This scholarship process is the direct result of receiving feedback from former conference attendees about ways to better support and enhance their conference experience both professionally and financially.

What are some benefits of supporting these individuals in attending the AMCHP conference?

Lynda: These individuals and the organizations and programs they represent enrich the conference for all attendees because they can share and highlight impactful work that they might not be aware of otherwise. Their attendance also helps support further connections and relationship-building between community-rooted organizations and those positioned at the state and national levels, particularly Title V.

Candice: And the larger field benefits from hearing about impactful initiatives happening at the local level in their own jurisdictions that they might not have been aware of before. This provides an opportunity for those positioned at the state and national levels to identify ways they can amplify and support these organizations to continue to drive positive outcomes for maternal, child, and adolescent health populations.

How can an organization or individual support this sponsorship opportunity?

Lynda: It’s an easy process! We ask anyone who might be interested to email us at conference@amchp.org with the subject line “AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship” by Friday, February 21, 2025.

Candice: AMCHP will acknowledge these contributions through shout-outs on our social media, an acknowledgment in our conference newsletter, recognition during one of our plenaries, and the inclusion of your name or logo on walk-in slides ahead of conference sessions.

What about individuals interested in being sponsored or receiving financial support to attend the conference?

Candice: The scholarship is open to any conference speaker or poster presenter who identified as a community-based organization, community-rooted partner, Indigenous People and Indigenous-led organization, or Tribal Government. If they have been accepted to present a session or poster at the conference, they were given the opportunity to indicate their interest in their Call for Proposals submission. 

Lynda: That’s right. AMCHP will follow up with accepted speakers and poster presenters who identified as one of these groups to share more information about the application process. We’ll follow up to either confirm the existing financial need they already indicated or identify those who now have a need. The following applicants will be prioritized:

• First-time conference attendee
• First-time AMCHP Voice for Impact scholarship recipient, previously called the CBO Scholarship
• Willing to contribute a quote or brief write-up on their conference experience for AMCHP to use
• Represents an organization that is led by or directly supports the following: In alignment with AMCHP’s Joint Organizational Commitment to Anti-Racism and Racial Equity, we are prioritizing organizations led by or directly supporting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities; others experiencing systemic oppression including but not limited to the disability community, the LGBTQI+ community, etc.; or those representing groups that have been historically oppressed.

Candice: After confirming the speakers’ scholarship needs, the scholarship opportunity will be advertised and open to non-speakers via AMCHP channels, such as the conference newsletter, Twitter, etc., contingent upon available funding. 

Is there a specific group you or the workgroup encourages to apply for this scholarship?

Lynda: There is no specific group, but we’d love to see more Indigenous people, Indigenous-led organizations, and tribal governments apply for the scholarship or be supported through it so that they can share their insights with the MCH field as part of the AMCHP conference.

How can anyone with questions reach out to the AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship workgroup?

Candice: For any questions, please contact us at conference@amchp.org, with the subject line “AMCHP Voice for Impact Scholarship.” We look forward to hearing from our community.