Show up before you need anything
Communities can tell the difference between a healthcare organization that shows up at events all year and one that shows up two weeks before an enrollment deadline. The first builds trust. The second extracts it.
Budget for year-round presence at the venues your population already trusts: faith communities, schools, mutual aid networks, cultural events, swap meets, parent groups, sober living houses. Send the same people every time so faces become familiar. Bring something useful — vaccinations, BP checks, enrollment help — not just a folding table and brochures.
“Our community partners said it took two years of consistent presence before they started actively recommending us. Year three, referrals tripled.
Partner with CBOs as peers, not subcontractors
CBOs are the trust infrastructure of your service area. Treating them as subcontractors — pay-per-referral, gag clauses, exclusive arrangements — is the fastest way to alienate the network that actually drives your growth.
Treat them as peers: co-branded materials, shared workflows, joint case conferences, transparent data sharing, and honest financial relationships. The CBOs who feel like peers refer. The ones who feel used don't, and tell their network.
- Co-branded outreach materials, not your logo on their work
- Joint case conferences and shared care plans where appropriate
- Transparent payment terms — pay on time, every time
- Annual relationship review with the CBO's leadership, on their turf
Measure trust, not just touches
Impressions, events attended, and flyers distributed are activity, not outcomes. They tell you the team showed up — not that anything changed.
Measure the things that prove trust: warm referrals from community partners, repeat engagement, member retention in your highest-need zip codes, partner satisfaction scores collected quarterly, and net-new community organizations engaged each quarter. These are the metrics that predict actual growth.
What to do with this.
- Budget for year-round community presence, not enrollment-deadline pushes
- Hire CHWs and peers from the community, at parity, with real decision-making authority
- Partner with CBOs as peers — co-branded, transparent, paid on time
- Replace impression metrics with trust metrics: warm referrals, retention, partner satisfaction
