Incubator for a multicultural California Association of Community Health Workers

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
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    • Home
    • About
      • CHW Pins
      • History
      • CHW Umbrella Campaign
      • Contact Us
    • SDOH
      • Equity
      • ACES TIC
      • Food Security
      • Housing
      • Education SDOH
      • Immigration
      • LGBTQ+
    • Education
      • Skills/Competencies
      • CBO Training
      • Community College
      • Online
      • Specialization
      • Continuing Education
    • Workforce
      • Job Titles
      • Jobs
      • Integration
      • Technical Assistance
      • COVID 19
      • Chronic Disease
      • Mental Health
      • Criminal Justice
      • Immigrant/Refugee
      • Pregnancy
      • Research
      • Enrolment
      • Hospitals
    • Policy
      • CHCF Policy Coalition
      • California
      • National
      • International
    • Resources
      • Videos
      • Toolkits
      • Metrics
      • Funding
      • Books
      • Research/Reports
      • References

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
  • Home
  • About
    • CHW Pins
    • History
    • CHW Umbrella Campaign
    • Contact Us
  • SDOH
    • Equity
    • ACES TIC
    • Food Security
    • Housing
    • Education SDOH
    • Immigration
    • LGBTQ+
  • Education
    • Skills/Competencies
    • CBO Training
    • Community College
    • Online
    • Specialization
    • Continuing Education
  • Workforce
    • Job Titles
    • Jobs
    • Integration
    • Technical Assistance
    • COVID 19
    • Chronic Disease
    • Mental Health
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant/Refugee
    • Pregnancy
    • Research
    • Enrolment
    • Hospitals
  • Policy
    • CHCF Policy Coalition
    • California
    • National
    • International
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Toolkits
    • Metrics
    • Funding
    • Books
    • Research/Reports
    • References

Who makes the best Community HEalth Workers?

Preferred CHW Attributes

 When selecting candidates to enter a Community Health Worker training program look for the natural leaders in a community who are already doing the work. Look for people who have the trust of their community, have a deep cultural and linguistic knowledge of the community to be served, are intrinsically compassionate and non judgmental. These intrinsic aspects of a person  are very hard, if not impossible to teach in a classroom setting. 


Paving a Path to Advance the CHW Workforce 


Preferred CHW Attributes (P 15)


Connected to the Community

  • Community member OR have a close understanding of the community they serve
  • Shared life experiences
  • Desires to help the community

Persistent, Creative and Resourceful

  • Determined
  • Imaginative
  • Ingenious

Mature 

  • Courageous
  • Prudent
  • Temperate
  • Wise

Empathetic, Caring, Compassionate 

  • Kind
  • Gentle
  • Considerate
  • Sensitive

Open Minded/ Non Judgmental/ Relativistic/Non-Dualistic

  • Unbiased
  • Flexible
  • Tolerant

Honest, Respectful, Patient

  • Sincere
  • Candid
  • Polite
  • Courteous

Dependable, Responsible, Reliable 

  • Trustworthy
  • Loyal
  • Motivated      and capable of self directed work
  • Committed      and dedicated

Friendly, Outgoing, Sociable 

  • Gracious
  • Pleasant
  • Responsive
  • Welcoming

CHW Core Consensus Project (C3)

CHW Roles and Competencies

 

Core CHW Roles 

  1. Cultural Mediation Among Individuals, Communities, and Health and Social Service Systems
  2. Providing Culturally Appropriate Health Education and Information
  3. Care Coordination, Case Management, and System Navigation
  4. Providing Coaching and Social Support
  5. Advocating for Individuals and Communities
  6. Building Individual and Community Capacity
  7. Providing Direct Service
  8. Implementing Individual and Community Assessments
  9. Conducting Outreach
  10. Participating in Evaluation and Research


CHW Competencies ( Able to use skills in their work)
Core CHW Skills ( Can be taught in trainings)


  1. Communication Skills
  2. Interpersonal and Relationship-Building Skills
  3. Service Coordination and Navigation Skills
  4. Capacity Building Skills
  5. Advocacy Skills
  6. Education and Facilitation Skills
  7. Individual and Community Assessment Skills
  8. Outreach Skills
  9. Professional Skills and Conduct
  10. Evaluation and Research Skills
  11. Knowledge Base


Core CHW Qualities ( select for in candidates)

  1. Compassionate
  2. Friendly
  3. Patient
  4. Respectful
  5. Non judgmental
  6. Motivated 
  7. Persistent
  8. Tenacious
  9. Self directed 
  10. Dependable
  11. Dedicated




C3 Goals

C3 defines comprehensive CHW roles, skills, qualities.


C3 establishes national consensus.

C3 provides guidance for improving CHW practice and policy. 


RESOURCES

Video

NACHW Six Pillars

  1. CHWs are a unique workforce
  2. CHWs are a community based workforce
  3. CHWs are a historic and diverse workforce
  4. CHWs are a cross sector workforce
  5. CHWs are a proven workforce
  6. CHWs are a precarious workforce

NACHW

CHW Six Pillars

 The Six Pillars

1 – CHWS ARE A UNIQUE WORKFORCE

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are a one-of-a-kind group of public health workers. CHWs as a profession have a designated workforce classification by the US Department of Labor, and are recognized health professionals by the ACA. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the US Department of Homeland Security deemed CHWs essential and critical infrastructure workers. With a unique set of core competencies recognized by local, state, and federal governmental organizations, CHWs are an underappreciated yet crucial workforce that promote social justice and help to achieve health equity and wellbeing for all.


2 – CHWS ARE A COMMUNITY-BASED WORKFORCE

Grounded in and committed to community advocacy, CHWs build relationships with those around them and help build treatment capacity in underserved areas. Trust, respect, and dignity for all human beings are core values among CHWs, and these public health workers are central to efforts to address clinical and community integration and the social determinants of health. CHW Networks and Associations help train and mobilize CHWs and provide support for local communities, from low-income city neighborhoods to remote rural villages, tribal nations, and territories.


3 – CHWS ARE A HISTORIC AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE

The history of CHWs goes back hundreds of years in the US. They’ve been here since the very beginning, in the form of tribal healers, and today are known by many different titles — community health representatives, promotoras, aunties, peers, outreach workers, and many others. As a reflection of the country they call home, they are diverse in ethnicity, language, and culture — the majority of CHWs are female people of color. These health workers have lived experience and cultural alignment, and deal with similar issues and suffer from many of the same chronic conditions as their ancestors, which makes them uniquely qualified to tackle community-based health problems.


4 – CHWS ARE A CROSS-SECTOR WORKFORCE

CHWs reduce barriers to healthcare and build capacity in underserved communities, helping their communities achieve optimal health and wellbeing. The social determinants of health are of particular interest to CHWs — they approach health with a holistic philosophy, considering socioeconomic and cultural factors in their attempt to achieve true health equity. CHWs establish formal and informal networks in local contexts and beyond to better leverage their collective strength and to serve their communities to the best of their abilities.


5 – CHWS ARE A PROVEN WORKFORCE

In terms of effectiveness, CHWs have proven how integral they are to clinical, public health, and social systems. 60 years worth of evidence of their effectiveness has been acquired through the study of CHWs in maternal and child health, chronic disease interventions, immunization, oral health, HIV, primary care, and many other disciplines. The results are clear: CHWs play a crucial role in societal healthcare efforts, as documented in countless randomized control trials, systematic reviews, and ROI studies of CHW interventions. In recent years, CHWs have increasingly been recognized for their contributions to addressing racial equity and the social determinants of health – by connecting individuals to basic needs and by organizing communities to address inequitable social conditions.


6 – CHWS ARE A PRECARIOUS WORKFORCE

As a majority-female workforce, CHWs face similar challenges to other female-dominated fields. They are among the lowest paid public health professionals, and frontline community work exposes them to communicable diseases, violence, and other forms of secondary trauma. Exacerbating these issues are an inconsistent professional identity and lackluster state and national-level legislation. Given the field’s issues, it’s not surprising that the CHW profession lacks sustainability in many areas such as recruitment, training, legislation, professional development, career ladders, and financing.

The National Health Advisor Study

Summary 1998

 

Community Health Advisors (CHA) help people take greater control over their health and their lives. They promote healthy living by educating about how to prevent disease and injury as well as how to access health and human service systems. The National Community Health Advisory Study identified steps to strengthen outreach services of CHAs across the country. The study was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.


Download full report PDF 

Table of Contents

1. Overview (pp. 1-7)

2. Methodology & Study Participants (pp. 8-10)

3. Core Roles and Competencies of Community Health Advisors (pp. 11-17)
Study Chapter written by Noel Wiggins, MSPH (Assisted by Angelina Borbon, PHN)

4. Evaluating CHA Services (pp. 18-24)
Study Chapter written by J. Nell Brownstein, PhD (Assisted by E. Lee Rosenthal, MPH)

5. Community Health Advisors - A Career in Development (pp. 25-33)
Study Chapter written by E. Lee Rosenthal, MPH
Study Youth Supplement written by Roberta Rael, et al.

6. Community Health Advisors in the Changing Health System (pp. 34-41)
Study Chapter written by Sarah Johnson, MSW, MPH

7. Conclusion (pp. 42-44)
Study Chapter written by E. Lee Rosenthal, MPH

Summary of Core Recommendations - Reference Page (pp. 45-46)


Capacity building is like shinning a rough cut diamond

Adult Learning

Community Health Workers come to their work with a passion resulting from lived experience  of some of the same challenges faced by those they serve. It is important to recognize and value this source of knowledge.

Find out more

Journal of Community Practice

Preparing Community Health Workers for Their Role as Agents of Social Change

 

Preparing Community Health Workers for Their Role as Agents of Social Change: Experience of the Community Capacitation Center


 Current efforts to better integrate Community Health Workers (CHWs) into the health and social service systems are promising, but may be less effective if they fail to support the role of CHWs as social change agents. The way CHWs are trained influences the roles they play. In this article, we review the literature on CHW training and summarize lessons learned to date. We describe how the Community Capacitation Center in Oregon uses a combination of content, methodology, and values to prepare CHWs to make an optimal contribution to health. Recommendations for CHW training programs and policy makers are provided. 


KEYWORDS Community organizing, community capacity building, grassroots leadership, social change, social justice, community building 






Journal of Community Practice

 

  • July 2013
  • Journal of Community Practice
  •  21(3):186-202
  • 19 Pages

DOI:10.1080/10705422.2013.811622Authors:

Noelle Wiggins

  • Wiggins Health Consulting, Portland, Oregon

Samantha KaanTeresa Rios-CamposRujuta Gaonka 


Find out more

Primary Characteristics and Values of Promotores

Vision Y Compromiso

  

The Promotor Model-A Model for Building Healthy Communities; A Framing Paper March 29, 2011 ( 47 pages of great information- here is a little taste! see link below to read the whole paper) http://www.visionycompromiso.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/TCE_Promotores-Framing-Paper.pdf


Primary Characteristics and Values of Promotores


  1. Promotores create and cultivate egalitarian relationships based on mutual trust,      understanding and respect.
  2. Promotores are committed to sharing information and resources.
  3. Promotores approach the community with empathy, love and compassion.
  4. Promotores are accessible and trusted members of the community where they live.
  5. Promotores share similar life experiences as the community.
  6. Promotores have a profound desire to serve the community, are tireless in their      service, and limitless in their generosity of spirit.
  7. Promotores communicate in the language of the people and are knowledgeable about the community’s cultural traditions.
  8. Promotores are a two-way bridge connecting the community to resources and ensuring that institutions respond to community needs.
  9. Promotores are natural advocates who are committed to social justice.
  10. Promotores are effective role models for community change.


REPORT:  A Survey of Promotores Training Programs in California A SUMMARY OF SURVEY FINDINGS 2012–2013  ( 44pages) 


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