Purpose
The following serves as a guide to those who wish to pursue meaningful community-engaged relationships with health councils across the state of New Mexico.
Background
New Mexico is unique in that there are currently over 43 Health Councils, representing 33 counties and 10 Tribal Nations. Established in 1991 by the New
Mexico legislature, reaffirmed in 2019 by the County and Tribal Health Councils Act (HB 137), health councils identify needs, resources, and priorities to improve community health. The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH), Public Health Division, and DOH Health Promotions Teams work collaboratively to support health councils.
There is a growing interest from researchers, project coordinators, organizations, and others to attend New Mexico Health Council meetings as they provide a wealth of information about community needs and health priorities. Engaging with community members through a health council allows for collaboration aimed at achieving health policy reform, research equity or social justice; creating opportunities to demonstrate cutting-edge approaches to address community-identified priorities; and understanding complex health problems by county (Page-Reeves & Regino, 2018). Recent collaborative efforts also aim to include local data for decision making, which allows deep engagement with health councils to support community well-being. As interest in attending health councils increases from individuals outside of communities, obtaining guidance and support can help interested parties better understand and respect the culture of each individual health council.
We hope the following points help guide you in connecting with NM Health Councils.
General Health Council Info
The following information may help to better understand and navigate Health Councils:
The health council role is mandated by the state of New Mexico and can be found at the following: County and Tribal Health Councils Act (HB 137)
The New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils webpage has links for individual health councils.
Each health council has a Fact Sheet that shares information about each health council’s mission and goals.
Fact Sheets can help you find the health council that aligns with your work and goals.
Each health council has a coordinator and contact information can be found on the New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils webpage.
Check with the coordinator if their health council meetings are open to the public before you attend.
Cycles in development: Each health council is unique and cycles in stages of development, with some having more established membership, structures, funding, planning and implementation processes, etc.
Tribal Health Councils
Tribal Health Councils are not open to the public, however if a project is of mutual interest, you may be invited to attend. It is also important to note that the New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils…
Respects Tribal sovereignty
Respects decisions from Tribal leaders
Values and recognizes community and Tribal processes
Please share this resource with others
This resource was created in the spirit of supporting each other through our shared interest in community engagement through health councils. Please share this resource with others whom you think would benefit from the information provided.