Community Health Worker Initiative
This component relies on a team of community health workers (CHWs). The effectiveness of CHWs (also known as lay health workers, promotoras de salud, community health advisors, etc.) in implementing health promotion initiatives has been amply demonstrated. Unfortunately, CHWs are commonly hired for a particular grant-supported research project and are laid off at the conclusion of the project. By contrast, the CERP CHW team represents a permanent component of the CERP's infrastructure for collecting information and launching community-based participatory research projects.
The CERP CHWs are trained using MSM curriculum currently in use to train CHWs across Georgia in a variety of (mostly cancer-related and HIV risk reduction) initiatives. In addition, the project is informed by our lessons learnedfrom CHW programs being conducted in our Community Voices sites across the nation. They may receive additional training in preparation for individual research projects. They are supervised by a master's-level health educator in the CERP Secretariat and a report on their activities is submitted to the Steering Board at each meeting. The CHWs are responsible for organizing community meetings for the dissemination of information about the ACTSI and its projects and programs; attending meetings of community organizations and other community institutions (such as churches, neighborhood organizations, and Parent-Teacher Associations) for the dissemination of information about the ACTSI and its projects and programs; administering surveys, conducting focus groups, and using informal methods to gather information on community health priorities; serving as health promoters in ACTSI CBPR projects that call for community interventions using CHWs.