Healthy Equity: The Importance of Community Health Workers/Promotores
The term Community Health Worker, or promotor(a) in Spanish, refers to health workers that work closely with the communities in which they live. They work with the primary aim of addressing a myriad of social determinants of health (SDOH) that result in poor health outcomes. Inherent to the power of CHWs/Ps is that Community Health […]
Roles and Functions of a Community Health Worker/Promotor
The American Public Health Association CHW Section has adopted the following definition of a community health worker: A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve as a liaison/link/intermediary between […]
Effective Community Outreach Strategies
Community outreach refers to a targeted campaign or communication by an organization to interact with a particular group of people to meet a specific goal. 1 For example, a team of Community Health Workers may conduct outreach to share information with people in a particular community about how to avoid lifestyle diseases like cancer and […]
The Health Benefits of Parks
Parks make Inland Region city neighborhoods more livable. They offer opportunities for recreation exercise, and socialization to youth, families, and adults who might not be able to purchase recreational amenities elsewhere. When parks are co-created by residents, they can also provide shared multicultural spaces where people can experience a sense of community and wholeness. Exposure […]
The Benefits of Home Visitation Programs
CHWs are frontline public health workers who have a deep understanding and/or are trusted members of the communities they serve. CHWs create a link between health/social services and the community to improve service access and quality. Research suggests CHWs are likely to reduce health disparities due to their unique ability to serve as change agents […]
Supporting Parents and Incentivizing Students to Attend Class
Education positively shapes wellbeing—it is fundamental to economic mobility and reducing socioeconomic and political inequalities. As America recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and the longstanding damage caused by structural racism—quality education and schools have become even more central to shaping equitable opportunities and societies for people of color. Research emphasizes the lifelong impact of education […]
The Impact of Chronic Absenteeism and CHWs/Promotores-Based Solutions
According to a study done by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) in 2015 -2016, over 16% of students in the USA were chronically absent in schools. Chronic absenteeism is a systemic and “hidden” American problem that has existed for decades. 1 Like most disparities, chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some […]
Impact of Job Training for Low-Income Earners
In terms of a return on investment, some of the most proven types of job training include data collection/analysis, social media marketing, computer training, safety training, ethics, prevention and community development models, specialized customer engagement skills training, diversity, inclusion and equity seminars, quality improvement, and communications classes. Benefits of Investing in Job Trainings In terms […]
Why is workforce development important?
The Inland Empire Workforce Development (IEWD) Boards have created a 3-year plan to develop equitable, regional, sector-based career pathways in target sectors, to ensure access and inclusion for all the region’s residents, businesses and organizations. 1 The planning process resulted in 5 key goals: 1 Regional Sector-Based Career Pathways, 2 High Road Workforce System 3 Access and […]
Importance of Community Financial Literacy
Sixty percent of U.S. adults say that the pandemic has been “highly disruptive” to their finances. 1 Beyond the impact of the pandemic, American consumers often have little understanding of finances. A 2022 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority study found that there is widespread financial illiteracy 2 in America, with 2/3s of respondents lacking basic financial […]