Resources

Statewide Resources

North Carolina Community Health Worker Association: NCCHWA provides resources on certification and training and brings Community Health Workers in North Carolina together.

North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (NC AHEC) Community Health Worker Program: Resources for integration of Community Health Workers into Primary Care Advanced Medical Homes. 

National Resources

American Public Health Association (APHA): Hosts a member section specifically for Community Health Workers. The section provides a platform for CHW within the health care system. Members also use the forum to discuss strategies and resources related to professional development, scope of practice and legislation.

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO): Association of State and Territorial Health Officials hosts a compendium of Community Health Worker policies, programs and best practices across the nation.

Center for Disease Control: Provides a toolkit related to evidence-based and promising population health-based policy and programs using CHW.

National Association of Community Health Worker (NACHW) – provides a collective forum to unite CHWs across the nation.  Membership is open to CHWs and CHW supporters/allies.  The organization promotes the values of self-empowerment, self-determination, social justice and equity, unity, integrity, dignity and respect.

PCORI Research on Community Health Worker/Peer Provider Programs. This report reviews results from nine recent studies funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) on community health workers (CHWs) and peer providers (PPs) as effective participants in addressing health and healthcare inequities, particularly for diverse communities. Each study presented focuses on a distinct function of utilizing CHWs and/or PPs such as mentoring, managing chronic conditions, and navigator support for serious mental illness and depression.

Progress Report of the Community Health Worker (CHW) Core Consensus (C3) Project: BUILDING NATIONAL CONSENSUS ON CHW CORE ROLES, SKILLS, AND QUALITIES: In 2014, the national Community Health Worker Core Consensus (C3) Project was initiated to determine the common CHW Scope of Practice and Competencies to establish CHW training curricula and practice guidelines for use at the local, regional, state and national levels. The researchers determined there were approximately 30 roles with accompanying sub-roles specific to CHW. The North Carolina Community Health Worker Initiative Stakeholders used the preliminary findings as a benchmark for creating state specific recommendations.

Hiring and Training Community Health Workers

The Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) created a comprehensive Community Health Worker Orientation Toolkit to ensure the successful and standardized onboarding of CHWs at all of their sites.  This resource outlines the policies, procedures, job descriptions, assessments, data collection and standards expected of CHWs hired by the FQHC.  Templates and samples are shared for customization by other agencies that wish to create their own toolkit.
Please click here to download the toolkit