Community Health Workers (CHWs) are frontline, public health professionals who often have similar cultural knowledge, practices, and beliefs, chronic health conditions, disabilities, or life experiences as other people in the same community.
CHWs are also known by other professions and job titles (e.g., peer recovery specialist, promotores de salud, coaches, lay health advisors, peer navigators, etc.) and many CHWs may be cross-trained and hold multiple certifications and disciplines in other areas of healthcare, mental health, and behavioral health. Learn more about what Community Health Workers do.
Benefits of Community Health Workers
As trusted leaders and subject matter experts, CHWs may help to improve:
- Timely access to healthcare and social services, support systems, and social services that are linked to upstream social determinants of health;
- Service providers’ understanding of community members’ cultural needs;
- Quality of care and services; and
- Health outcomes.
At other times, CHWs might:
- Work together with decision-makers to change policies affecting care, support, and services within a health system or local government.
- Empower communities to make policy change that leads to healthier communities.
In many ways, CHWs can be a public health force for change in the United States - because health begins where people live, learn, work, and play, from infancy through advanced age.
Membership with the Community Health Worker Association of Rhode Island (CHWARI) is free and can serve as a one-stop local entry point to learning about and becoming a Community Health Worker. CHWARI regularly promotes opportunities for training, professional development, networking, and employment. More information is available on the CHWARI website.
Access CHWARI's “How to Get Started as a CHW in Rhode Island”. This content is available in English and Spanish.
Three organizations in Rhode Island offer a variety of CHW training opportunities to help meet the different needs of individuals and organizations:
- The Community Health Worker Association of Rhode Island offers Core Competency Community Health Worker trainings to prepare to apply for certification. Specialty trainings for CHWs have also included: Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes; Working with Older Adults; HIV Endorsement; and more. At this time English fluency is required for most trainings. See the current training calendar.
- Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic offers the Navegante training program. Bilingual community members are trained in case management, outreach, health education, advocacy, and medical interpreting. The Navegantes help patients navigate the health system, apply for free care, apply for insurance, find community resources, and educate the community about walk-in clinic services. The Navegantes also serve as instructors for the clinic’s Vida Sana and Diabetes Prevention Program classes, while following a culturally appropriate community health model. CHW training courses are announced on the organization's Facebook page.
- Community Health Innovations of Rhode Island offers CHW trainings that enable organizations to schedule a certification course. For individuals, this training program is designed as an entry level program and focuses on core skills that support the work of CHWs, as well as on individual and community engagement.
The Rhode Island Certification Board processes applications for Community Health Worker Certification within the state. Learn more and apply.
Here are two great resources for finding CHW jobs and exploring career opportunities in Rhode Island: caringcareers.ri.gov | chwari.org/job-postings
Federal and State Partners
In Rhode Island, multiple federal and state partners have been working to support workforce development and sustainability for CHWs.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides resources for CHWs on their website.
The Community Health Worker Association of Rhode Island (CHWARI) is a membership organization for CHWs and their allies and is part of the Institute for Education in Healthcare at Rhode Island College. CHWARI works to strengthen the professional identity of CHWs; expand workforce skillsets through advance trainings; connect CHWs to career and leadership opportunities; and conduct advocacy to advance health equity at the grassroots level. Membership for CHWs is free. CHWARI has worked in partnerships that have included RIDOH, the Department of Labor and Training (DLT), RIPIN, the Alliance for CHW Employers, the Care Transformation Collaborative of Rhode Island (CTC-RI), the Rhode Island Certification Board, WE in the World, CHW Voices, the Statewide CHW Strategy Team, and many other local organizations.
Caring Careers Rhode Island
This website is powered by EOHHS and provides a comprehensive directory for finding professional development and certification programs, and local employment opportunities in Rhode Island. Find a training or certification program to help grow your career, explore featured careers, and learn how to get started in a direct care career that may interest you.
Rhode to Equity
In 2021, the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), in conjunction with its Rhode Island-Medicaid office, partnered with RIDOH to launch Rhode to Equity (R2E). This initiative worked to enhance clinical-community linkages to meet population health goals. This coalition-building process brought together organizations, primary care clinics, Community Health Teams, Health Equity Zones (HEZs), CHWs, and people with lived experiences. Working together across six teams, participants addressed drivers of disproportionate negative health outcomes within a geographic area and worked together to improve positive health outcomes. CHWs played an important role for voicing their community’s values and input during collaborative projects.
Medicaid Coverage
Rhode Island Medicaid covers select Community Health Worker services for Medicaid reimbursement. Learn more about Medicaid enrollment and reimbursement.
The National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) played a pivotal role in the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic response as a leader in training and providing resources for CHWs. The NACHW was founded in April 2019 after several years of planning and organizing by Community Health Workers (CHWs) and allies across the United States. NACHW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership-driven organization with a mission to unify CHWs across geography, ethnicity, sector and experience to support communities to achieve health, equity and social justice.
CHW Program
In 2021, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) received a competitive grant award from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to train, deploy and engage CHWS under a new program that aimed to continue building resilient communities during COVID-19 recovery efforts. Learn more about the grant.
RIDOH Programs
Over the years, public health programs focused on chronic disease prevention, care, and management have also strongly supported the work, professional development, and healthcare workforce integration of CHWs, such as in the Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke Program, RIDOH’s Health Equity Zone (HEZ) initiative, and other programs.
The Rhode Island CHW Strategy Team envisions thriving and healthy Rhode Island communities that partner with an equity-focused, strengths-based health and social service system integrating leadership and sustainability of CHWs. This bi-monthly gathering meets online and acts as a liaison between CHWs, CHW employers, and policy makers to champion and align varying goals and interests, including Workforce Development, Sustainability, CHW Advocacy, and Interagency Collaboration (Care coordination).
In 2023, CHW Strategy Team members and allied partners worked with WE in the World to help co-create the State’s first ever Roadmap for Community Health Workers in Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN) employs more certified Community Health Workers than any other organization in Rhode Island and provides pathways to certification for all staff. RIPIN CHWs serve every community in Rhode Island, using a Peer Professional Model to help Rhode Islanders of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds get the support they need to thrive.
In 2023, RIPIN also helped launch the Alliance for CHW Employers as a resource for organizations, healthcare providers, supervisors, and others.
Strength in Unity: The New England Community Health Worker Coalition promotes unity and advances the visibility of CHWs across the region, and highlights state-specific activity from the region. View Rhode Island's CHW Profile.