2026 CVC applications are now open! Learn more below and apply today.
Community Voices Council
We believe the people most impacted by our work should help shape it. The Community Voices Council brings together community members to share lived experience, offer feedback, and help us build programs that truly work for people.
What is the Community Voices Council (CVC)?
The Community Voices Council (CVC) elevates the voices of community members who are or have been Medicaid beneficiaries, uninsured, or have experienced systemic barriers to care, and supports their active participation in shaping the systems they are most impacted by.
The CVC exists to ensure that people most impacted by health inequities shape the systems meant to serve them.
What does the CVC do?
Share ideas that shape decisions
CVC members help guide the direction of Better Health Together by sharing what matters most in their communities and what changes are needed.
Help design and improve programs
Members give feedback on programs and ideas by helping spot challenges early and suggesting ways to make services more helpful, accessible, and effective.
Identify community needs and gaps
The CVC helps highlight what’s missing, what’s working, and what needs more attention based on real experiences in the community.
Promote accountability and transparency
The CVC helps ensure that community feedback is taken seriously by asking questions, offering input, and checking how it’s being used in decisions.
Join the Community Voices Council!
Applications are now open. Fill yours out before May 29, 2026 and our panel will be in touch.
We want your voice at the table.
If you’ve navigated healthcare or social services, have ideas for how things could work better, or simply want to make a difference in your community, we want to hear from you.
Fill out an application and we will be in touch. There are no “right” answers. We are looking for honesty, reflection, and community-rooted perspectives, not professional language or formal experience.
Real Voices. Real Impact.
CVC members are people connected to and accountable to their communities. Formal experience and credentials aren’t required. Members bring lived experience navigating systems like healthcare and social services, are trusted and connected through relationships and lived insight, and are open to working across differences.
CVC members help Better Health Together make more informed, equitable, and community-centered decisions by:
- Sharing lived experience and community insight
- Identifying barriers, gaps, and impacts on the community
- Providing feedback on programs, strategies, and priorities
- Helping define what success looks like from a community perspective
- Supporting accountability between BHT and the communities it serves
This is a space for shared learning and decision-making, not individual service navigation or case management.
- Time commitment: Most members spend about 2 hours per month participating in CVC meetings.
- Compensation: Members are compensated for participation in meetings and approved activities. Not all activities are compensated. We’ll always be clear about this in advance.
We want to get to know you!
We’ll ask a few simple questions to get to know you, like your connection to community, your lived experience navigating systems, and the perspectives you’d bring.
Demographic Information
We ask demographic questions to help us understand who we’re reaching and who we’re not. This helps us build a council that reflects the diversity of our communities and ensures a range of perspectives are included.
Your responses are used only to support equitable representation and are never shared publicly.
Community Reference Letter
People connect to community in many different ways. This letter helps us understand how you are connected to, trusted by, or relied on within the community you name. We are not asking you to prove who you are or to hold a formal title or leadership role. Instead, this is one way for us to learn about the relationships, trust, and accountability you bring, especially in informal or everyday ways that don’t always show up on paper. The letter does not need to be polished or professional; what matters most is real connection and trust.
An important note you don’t want to miss!
This form takes 20-30 minutes to complete and progress cannot be saved to come back later on this platform. To make sure nothing gets lost or deleted, please draft your responses in advance and have your reference letter ready before starting.
View Our Blogs
August 27, 2025
For many people, Community Health Workers are the difference between getting lost in the system and finding the support they need. Their commitment turns
August 25, 2025
Community Health Worker Awareness Week is here! From August 25-29, 2025, we’re joining communities nationwide to celebrate the people who make health care more
June 16, 2025
Community voices across Eastern Washington shaped bold, place-based solutions to inform the next Environmental Health Disparities Map through trust, leadership, and collective
What's Happening?
Sign up to stay up to date with regional health and community information
