Title: Atlanta Regional Community Health Workforce Advancement (ARCHWAy) Program Applicant Address: Emory University, 1599 Clifton Road NE, 4th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30322 Project Director: Beth Ann Swan, PhD, RN, FAAN Phone: 267.315.1424 | Fax: 404.778.4778 Email: beth.ann.swan@emory.edu Funds Requested: $3,000,000 Funding Priority Linkage: Health Equity/COVID 19 Overview: Community health workers (CHWs) are vital yet often invisible contributors to care coordination, health equity, and population health in medically underserved areas. Many communities lack CHWs altogether or have CHWs trained on-the-job only as part of organizational onboarding and orientation. We propose to advance CHW workforce capacity by offering standardized learning and skills-enriching training with a goal of improved care access and health equity. The Atlanta Regional Community Health Workforce Advancement (ARCHWAy) Program will leverage cross-sector partners to increase the number of CHWs. It will expand the public health (PH) workforce by supporting new/existing CHWs with specialized training focused on PH core competencies in both English/Spanish; extend and upskill the PH workforce by enhancing existing curricula to increase knowledge, skills, and competencies in emergency response; prevention and treatment of heart disease, stroke, and HIV; care coordination, social and literacy support, policy/advocacy, motivational interviewing to address vaccine hesitancy; and increase CHW employment readiness through experiential learning/field placements developed with cross-sector partners. Positioning more/better trained CHWs as members of integrated care teams will achieve health equity by advancing PH, strengthening the PH workforce, reducing health disparities, and helping underserved populations address social determinants that can undermine health. Objectives 1. Establish a 12-week training (80-hour curriculum, 64 hours core competencies,16 hours enhanced knowledge). W
ith multiple annual offerings, we will recruit, train, enable new trainees to earn a certificate in CHW and PH core competencies. 2. Reduce barriers to ARCHWAy enrollment and retention by providing $3,750 in tuition/fees, stipends, and wrap-around services to 446 CHW part-time trainees (332 new/114 current). 3. Train 114 current CHWs on Public Health & Essential Public Health Services competencies. 4. Develop and enhance curriculum and provide additional training for the 446 supported CHWs around evidence-based core competencies for public health. 5. Implement hands-on integrated training for 446 CHWs in simulated experiences (20 hours) and experiential learning/field placements (80 hours) in underserved communities. 6. Provide job placement services for 332 new CHWs through cross-sector partners. 7. Address critical gaps in PH and community needs that can be filled by CHWs in five Atlanta counties disproportionately burdened by health inequities and morbidity (e.g., COVID-19, chronic conditions and diseases, mental and behavioral health access). 8. Increase CHW workforce distribution and diversity by recruiting and training 446 individuals who will serve in underserved communities as key contributors of better integrated care teams. Methods: Facilitated by cross-sector partnerships with AID Atlanta, Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, and Boat People SOS, ARCHWAy will train, upskill, and integrate with care teams through experiential learning/field placements. It will provide job placement in underserved communities, cultivate wellness advocates, health equity champions, and provide resources to address social determinants of health across underserved communities in Atlanta. A robust plan for formative/summative evaluation will be implemented by the Data Coordinator. While training new and current CHWs will be similar, it will be informed, shaped, and refined by current CHWs via focus groups.