They came from Carrington, Hillsboro, McClusky and Mayville, North Dakota. From Halstad, Oslo and Parker’s Prairie, Minnesota. And from Havre, Wolf Point and Miles City, Montana – each with somethin’ to say about health care reform.

Fellow Center for Rural Affairs’ organizer Steph Larsen and I did a whirlwind tour of North Dakota in early July, hosting community forums and policy advocacy trainings in Mandan, Harvey and Hillsboro. We were thrilled to have 75 North Dakotans show up in total.

With health care reform making headlines almost everyday, chairs were full and folks were outspoken at each of the meetings.

The Center for Rural Affairs also co-sponsored a statewide town meeting called “Montana Talks Health Care” in nine locations across Montana. In total, more than 400 people registered. The small town of Wolf Point on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana registered 70 people!

Center for Rural Affairs’ organizer Kiki Hubbard attended the meeting in Great Falls where over 80 people showed up. Kiki reported that the Great Falls group concluded that community conversations like these need to keep happening. They said “we need to be involved to get what we want.”

Tell your senator why health care reform is important to your community at www.cfra.org/09/health-care. Read the full blog post at www.cfra.org/node/2081.

Contact: Virginia Wolking, virginiaw@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1017 for more details.