Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
Community Health Worker Training Program - Project Abstract Applicant Organization: Loma Linda University Address: 11139 Anderson Street, Loma Linda, California, 92350-1735 Project Director Name: Dr. Susanne Montgomery Contact Phone Numbers - Voice: (909) 651-5881 Fax: (909) 558-0908 E-Mail Address: smontgomery@llu.edu Web Site Address: https://home.llu.edu Amount Requested: $3,000,000 Funding Preference Requested: Yes, Loma Linda University trains a high percentage of community health worker trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds and a large percentage of community health workers who complete the CHW program serve is medically underserved communities. The Loma Linda University San Manuel Gateway College Community Health Worker Training Program will increase the number of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and equip them with the skillsets needed to provide effective community outreach, build trust with communities, support connections to and retention in care and support services and other strategies to increase access to care and to assist individuals in prevention services, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies in underserved communities. These combined efforts will advance public health, strengthen the public health workforce, reduce health disparities, and help underserved populations achieve health equity. The proposed program's goals are: (1) expand the public health workforce by training new and existing community health CHWs with specialized training and financial support to offset expenses that would impede success in training; (2) extend and upskill the public health workforce by developing new or enhancing existing curriculums to increase the skills and competencies of existing CHWs; (3) Increase CHW employment readiness through field placements and apprenticeships developed in collaboration with a network of partnerships that will enable trainees to respond to and support essential public health services and provide them with empl oyment opportunities; and (4) Advance health equity and support for underserved communities by increasing the number of CHWs that are employed as integral members of integrated care teams that use their expanded skills to reduce health disparities. San Manuel Gateway College (SMGC) is an outreach of Loma Linda University to serve the underserved and diverse communities within the proposed project's target counties of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in the Inland Empire region of southern California. The current SMGC CHW program offers a comprehensive workforce readiness program via three delivery modalities (in-person, hybrid, and virtual) and in two languages (Spanish and English). In addition to instructors within the CHW program, the program engages subject matter experts from various disciplines supported by the many schools within Loma Linda University. Since 2016, the program has grown to offer a comprehensive workforce readiness capacity-building training program with four full-time staff including a CHW graduate of the program, two full-time instructors who are graduates of the CHW program, and three part-time instructors, one of which is also a graduate of the CHW program. Since the beginning, the program has trained nearly 300 CHWs with a 99% completion rate and a 95% employment rate in health care. The Loma Linda University San Manuel Gateway College Community Health Worker Training Program will expand the successful CHW program at SMGC. The proposed project will educate up to 240 CHW trainees and CHWs who complete the CHW training program and/or receive CHW continuing education credits. Given that the University is a Minority-Serving Institution, many CHW trainees will be from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many CHWs will practice in medically underserved communities upon completing the CHW training program to help underserved populations achieve health equity and reduce health disparities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).