Effectively Partnering to Sustain Community Health Workers in Community Health Centers

In the National Academies 2003 report entitled Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, community health workers (CHWs) were cited as an intervention strategy to better address health inequities in underserved communities where they provide services. A recently published study in the International Journal for Equity in Health on CHWs and health equity further concluded that “in order to optimize the equity impacts of CHW programs, we need to move beyond seeing CHWs as a temporary sticking plaster, and instead build meaningful partnerships . . . and address the underlying structures of inequity.”

During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the work of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Community Health Centers (CHCs) has particularly garnered attention for their impact advancing health equity. The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is identifying and promoting successful partnerships that can be replicated to enhance the sustainability of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in underserved communities, strengthening efforts toward health equity. This session will highlight effective partnerships and approaches to sustain CHWs in Community Health Centers (CHCs) and surrounding communities.

Learn how partnerships were formed, how they have been sustained, and lessons learned for sustaining the work of CHWs in Community Health Centers for the future.

Participants will:

• Gain knowledge of the Race to Health Equity Initiative and NACHC’s efforts to identify and elevate partnerships and approaches to sustain the work of CHWs in CHCs.
• Recognize partnerships in which health centers are engaged to sustain CHWs in CHCs.
• Identify approaches that health centers and their partners are taking to sustain CHWs in CHCs.