CHW V.O.I.C.E

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an effective, powerful workforce. They are experts in mitigating the impact of social and structural determinants of health, a unique set of skills developed through their own lived experiences and their roles as trusted members of, and leaders in, their communities. While CHWs have existed for hundreds of years in various forms, they remain overlooked, underappreciated and, consequently, underpaid, even as states grapple with developing and implementing sustainable financing arrangements for their services. Building CHWs’ capacity to generate and galvanize support for CHW-related legislation, at both the state and federal levels, is critical to protecting the integrity of their professional identities, ensuring fair compensation for their work, and advancing equity across the spectrum of organizations they are employed in. 

From 2020 to present, Project CHAMPP (Community Health Workers Advocating for Movement in Policy and Practice), an 8-person group composed of community health workers, researchers, policy analysts, and representatives from philanthropic organizations, has convened to inform, and advocate for, the development of federal legislation to create sustainable financing for the CHW workforce; gain skills in identifying, and effectively communicating with, healthcare payors, policymakers, philanthropic organizations, leaders of community-based organizations, and other key stakeholders; create guardrails to hold employers accountable for creating environments that are conducive to CHWs’ personal and professional success; and  increase our knowledge about the processes underpinning legislation development procedures. Half of the members of 

Project CHAMPP are CHWs. Under their leadership and guidance, we propose a 90-minute oral presentation that describes facets of our multistakeholder coalition that serves as a model for cultivating meaningful collaborations between CHWs and their partners across academia, philanthropy, and policy. A CHW team member will provide a brief summary of the work undertaken by the Project CHAMPP partners. This will be followed by a moderated panel discussion featuring perspectives from the CHWs, health equity researchers, and government relations experts comprising Project CHAMPP. Members of the panel will share the evolution of our partnership, lessons learned, accomplishments, and aspirations for promoting the dissemination and uptake of policies and practices that will support the CHW workforce at the state and national levels. Through this presentation – whose goals and objectives were created by our CHW colleagues – we will showcase the ways in which we leveraged our individual strengths to optimize our collective impact.

Indisputable evidence confirms that CHWs improve health outcomes. And CHWs are health workers. It’s in the name.

But good health only happens if there are good working conditions. For maximum lives saved, CHWs must be salaried, skilled, supervised, and supplied. In most places, they’re not.

From California to New York, the global community faces a moral dilemma and moral imperative. Will we commit to decent work in community health? Or will we continue to build health systems on the backs of an unpaid, mostly female workforce?

Community Health Impact Coalition is making professional community health workers (proCHWs) the norm worldwide by changing guidelines, funding, and policy.

As a nonprofit field catalyst, the Coalition is achieving systems change. Not scaling up a particular organization.

CHIC flies in the face of the traditional aid model. Rather than protecting their intellectual property, members and allies are unpacking it and making it public.

This radical collaboration is how we wield influence on a scale sufficient to change global norms. It’s pragmatic solidarity: a shared vision of health for all, without caring who gets the credit.