MNCHWA invites proposals for the 2026 Rural Community Health Worker Conference to be held October 8th and 9th in Worthington, Minnesota. The theme for this year’s conference is Hands On, Hearts In: Practicing the Skills That Power Rural CHW Work.
Conference Learning Objectives:
- Practice hands‑on skills that power rural CHW work. Attendees will engage in hands‑on, interactive learning to practice core Community Health Worker skills—such as motivational interviewing, suicide risk assessment, deep listening, and trauma‑responsive communication—rooted in the realities, relationships, and resource contexts of rural communities.
- Showcase CHW‑informed best practices that strengthen program implementation. Attendees will advance understanding and discussion of CHW‑centered programs and practices that empower CHWs to co‑create initiatives, influence program design and implementation, and integrate lived experience and community knowledge through supportive organizational structures.
- Strengthen the big tent of CHW work through inclusion and belonging. Attendees will be able to recognize and affirm the full scope of the CHW workforce, ensuring this conference reflects, values, and is for everyone doing heart‑centered community health work including certificate‑holding and non‑certificate‑holding CHWs, Community Health Representatives (CHRs), Promotoras, and related community‑based roles.
Criteria for selection:
Proposals will be selected by a sub-committee of the Rural CHW Conference Planning Committee. If you wish to participate in the planning committee, please email rachel@mnchwalliance.org.
Priority will be given based on the following set of criteria:
- CHW Leadership, voice, involvement: presentations submitted by CHWs or with CHWs as co-presenters will be prioritized. If your presentation does not feature a CHW as a presenter, but CHWs have voice or leadership in creating the content, please mention that in your proposal.
- Relevance to conference Learning Objectives
- Relevance to conference theme
- Expertise of presenter(s), including lived expertise of CHWs
- Relevance to the concerns of CHWs working in rural settings
- Balance of the content from other accepted proposals: we will work to ensure that a broad array of topics are covered. Proposals with similar topics or themes may be asked to combine with another proposal.