Registration for the 2026 Colorado Health Symposium closes in just one week!
With limited spots remaining, now is the time to secure your registration.
Check out the Capacity Building workshops we’ll be offering at this year’s Symposium:
Narrative Power in Practice: Turning Communications into Real-World Change
Strategic communications can do more than inform. It can shape how people think, what they support, and what becomes possible. In this interactive session, you’ll explore how campaigns can uplift narratives that build shared understanding and advance equity-centered change. You’ll strengthen your ability to balance short-term communications goals with long-term narrative change and learn practical strategies for communicating complex ideas in a noisy information landscape.
Presenter: SE2
Using Digital Tools to Strengthen CaseMaking
What if your data could move people, your stories could unlock resources, and your case could build the will for change? We’ll get real about why so many important initiatives struggle to gain traction, and what it takes to change that. Together, we’ll explore how digital tools can help you translate your impact into a case people can see, feel, and act on. You’ll learn how to turn complex data into clear, human-centered “social math,” pair lived experience with evidence to build trust, and use digital strategies to move audiences from passive agreement to active commitment. Strengthen your ability to make a persuasive case with funders, partners, and communities.
Presenter: Dr. Tiffany Manuel, TheCaseMade
Heartwired Persuasive Messaging: This is Your (Audience’s) Brain on Emotionally Complex Issues in Polarized Times
In today’s environment, it can feel like we’re losing ground. Building stronger public support requires a deeper understanding of how people process complex social issues, including what is happening beneath the surface. Through hands-on application, you’ll leave with strategies to bridge division and reach persuadable audiences, moving them toward shared goals. Along the way, you might just discover that we all share more in common than expected.
Presenters: Heartwired (Wonder and Goodwin Simon Strategic Research)
Building Durable Movements: Shifting Definitions of Winning and Diversifying Strategy
In this session, you’ll explore practices that advance both short- and long-term strategies, strengthen collaboration across experience levels, and foster knowledge transfer between emerging and seasoned leaders. This session will highlight approaches to building resilient movements in times of attack, drawing on decades of LGBTQ advocacy with a goal of fostering dialogue across movements.
Presenter: Movement Advancement Project (MAP)
The Role of Community Leadership and Accountability in Coalition Effectiveness
Strong coalitions are built through trust, accountability, and meaningful community leadership. Explore how community-centered leadership strengthens coalition effectiveness and long-term sustainability. Drawing on insights from a recent Advocacy Ecosystem Study commissioned by The Colorado Health Foundation, alongside lessons from Colorado Homes for All (COHFA), participants will examine what authentic accountability looks like in practice, why it matters, and strategies coalition members and funders can use to strengthen collaboration, shared leadership, and collective impact.
Presenters: Colorado Homes for All (9to5 Colorado and United for a New Economy) and Grassroots Solutions
Building Authentic Youth Engagement
Strong youth engagement requires organizations to rethink how power, voice, and leadership are shared. This session will explore actionable strategies for building meaningful youth leadership across staffing, governance, and community engagement. Participants will learn how to authentically integrate youth into decision-making roles and create pathways for long-term leadership development, as well as how adults can better listen to and partner with young people in ways that recognize their expertise, respect their agency, and foster true multigenerational collaboration.
Presenter: Dr. Janiece Mackey, Young Aspiring Americans for Social & Political Activism (YAASPA)