Community Health Workers make a difference in communities. They’re frontline public health workers who are trusted members of their community. This trusting relationship enables them to serve as a liaison/link/intermediary between health and social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.
Illinois is home to a diverse Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce (which includes outreach workers, peer educators, promotor(a)s de salud, community-based doulas, health aides, home visitors, peer educators and advocates). Currently, CHWs are trained at a variety of organizations and in a variety of ways, making it difficult for their training to be transferrable to other organizations throughout their careers. Funding is also piecemeal, based on grant funding from year to year. In order to create a more sustainable and well-funded community health workforce, the Chicago CHW Local Network and many other stakeholders, including Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, are considering ways in which CHW training can be standardized while being open to all people regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, education, language, immigration status and physical ability.
As part of the CHW Certification policy development process, the CHW Local Network is seeking input from CHWs and people who hire, train, and employ CHWs on what the certification process should look like in Illinois. To share your voice and contribute to this movement, take the 15 minute survey by October 8th, 2012. Haz clic aquí para completar una encuesta en español. We thank you for your input.
Janna Stansell, MPH*
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
*A member of the CHW Local Network CHW Policy Development Workgroup
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