The Impact of Community Health Worker Training and Programs in NYC

Abstract: The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative is committed to improving health care in Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and low-income communities in New York City, large parts of which are home to many immigrants to the U.S. The Collaborative developed a program to train and integrate community health workers (CHWs) into ongoing programs at partner community organizations. We report on our 2000-2005 experiences with CHWs for health insurance, child immunizations, and asthma management. A total of 1,504 CHWs were trained, with 16%-200% increase in CHW competency for selected skills. The CHWs facilitated health insurance enrollment for about 30,000 individuals, assisted 8,000 children to become completely immunized, and supported 4,000 families improving asthma management. Integration of CHW training into community programs is effective for empowering health promotion in underserved communities.