“Amazingly powerful and filled with love and compassion.”
Community Advisory Boards
In March, we hosted four Community Advisory planning sessions to gain input from a wide group of community members on what they would want out of participating in a community advisory board. Out of these discussions three different advisories are being created: the Community Advisory Leadership Board, the Community Advisory group, and the Consumer/Member Advisory Group. Please read the descriptions of each board below to determine the best fit for you as well as the date and time of the next meeting for each board.
Community Advisory Leadership Board
Candidates may include seasoned or credentialed professionals and community leaders from across Minnesota. This group will serve as a pathway between the community and the BCBSMN Board. The purpose of this board is to advise leadership on concerns of immediate importance. An additional goal is connecting BCBSMN leadership to thought leaders across race, class, and culture to support leadership in building the cross-cultural competency required to achieve equity in health access and health outcomes.
First Meeting: [POSTPONED]
We apologize for the late notice, but due to circumstances beyond our control we have to postpone the dIZI scheduled for May 11th. We will be in touch soon to decide collectively on our next date. We are so honored to have your participation. Our BCBS Advisory information page is now live at www.marnitastable.org/bcbsmn
Queremos disculparnos por este aviso de cancelación. Debido a circunstancias ajenas a nosotros tenemos que posponer el evento dIZI de esta noche. En cuanto tengamos noticias nos pondremos en contacto con usted para poder decidir colectivamente la próxima fecha. Estamos honrados de tener su participación. La información sobre la Junta Asesora para BCBS la puede encontrar en la página de www.marnitastable.org/bcbsmn
Community Advisory Group
Community members will be called upon to advise BCBSMN on a particular topic of interest to them and may include subgroups that are region oriented. The group will focus on decreasing behavioral and mental health stigma and improving cultural competency in care navigation. Additionally, BCBSMN will work with the Community Advisory Group to identify areas to focus on based on community interest and needs, ensuring representation from all MN regions and BIPOC communities and to helping BCBSMN ideate and envision new solutions and innovations toward health equity.
First Meeting: Wednesday, May 24thfrom 6:00-8:30pm
Member Advisory Group
Candidates will include BCBSMN members or advocates of BCBSMN members. The recommended focus area will be to report on BCBSMN member/customer specific experiences, needs and desires. Member Advisory Group goals will be to improve member engagement, receive direct feedback from BCBSMN members, receive care that is responsive to member specific needs. This will be an opportunity for members and member advocates to share Blue Cross experiences.
First Meeting: Wednesday, May 18th from 6:00-8:30pm
Please email Sammie@Marnitastable.org to RSVP to these meetings. We will send the Zoom link when you RSVP!
Earlier Collaborations
In the spring of 2021, we led the Engage! Series as a key aspect of BCBSMN’s Pledge To Listen tour. During our Engage! events we brought in diverse community members from different key regions across the state of Minnesota to have candid and open conversations about what people are looking for from their health care providers.
Simultaneously in March 2021 we hosted Let’s Talk COVID Conversations!, an UnConference series that provided community advocates and health care professionals an opportunity to discuss the public health issues the COVID-19 pandemic has posed, with a particular focus on culturally sensitive, evidence based, and historically informed perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution.
To learn more about either series, go to projects.marnitastable.org.
About Our Partnership!
Marnita’s Table is proud of our ongoing partnership with BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota. Our work together has been centered on IBPOC and other marginalized peoples’ experiences with our healthcare system. Our goal was to provide a safe(r) space for those who traditionally have been denied a seat at the decision-making and resource-sharing table to lift their voices and lived experience in order to effect equitable systemic change.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan with its charter mission: to provide equitable, economical and timely availability of health services for all Minnesotans. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross covers 2.9 million members in Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated companies.
Minnesota continues to have some of the widest health inequities in between BIPOC and the white population in the nation, preventing many Minnesotans from having the ability to be healthy. Blue Cross is committed to reducing health inequities and systemic racism, as it is essential to fulfilling our mission of transforming care, inspiring change and improving health.
Blue Cross(R) and Blue Shield(R) of Minnesota and Blue Plus(R) are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
About Marnita’s Table
At Marnita’s Table, we seek to close gaps across difference through making Intentional Social Interaction the new pattern for society where Indigenous, people of color, the disenfranchised, the poor, the unheard, the fragile, the LGBTQ+ and anyone who is normally left out of community decision making are automatically included and valued at the policy-making and resource-sharing table. Experts at social capital building, we’ve welcomed almost 100,000 people from around the world and the around the way to find common ground while breaking bread – in person or online, we bring people together to create meaningful change and more equitable systems. Find out more at www.marnitastable.org.
