Advancing Community Health Worker Power-Building and Policy

Community health workers are essential, skilled professionals in the United States health and social service workforce. But despite their well-documented contributions to community well-being, they remain undervalued, underfunded, and disconnected from broader health and social service funding systems. 

It is crucial for health and government decision-makers to understand the incredible impact of community health workers on health outcomes, and to recognize the importance of this workforce. And the most effective advocates for this are community health workers themselves. 

Across the country, PIH-US partners with state and national community health worker networks to elevate community health worker voices by creating spaces for them to share experiences and foster collaboration across different areas of the community health ecosystem. We work closely with community health worker network partners to help them design and implement advocacy strategies, supporting coalition building, policy development, and storytelling—key levers for achieving policy changes. Regardless of the approach, achieving desired policy change requires community health workers to be well-equipped, confident, and prepared to engage directly with legislators. 

By facilitating interactive advocacy workshops and training sessions, PIH-US helps prepare community health workers to educate policymakers and ensure their priorities are heard. These workshops develop essential skills for engaging decision-makers, focusing on relationship building, securing meetings, practicing messaging, and helping community health workers gain the confidence to drive meaningful change and secure support. 

Over the last few months, we have:

• Partnered with the Florida CHW Coalition to expand local community health worker advocacy capacity in the state. In December, PIH-US hosted a series of trainings on legislative advocacy to prepare members traveling to Tallahassee for the first-ever Community Health Worker Advocacy Day. At the Coalition’s annual meeting this summer, we facilitated refresher trainings, building on past sessions to help attendees confidently use their voices to influence policies and programs. 
• Co-hosted a Congressional briefing and Hill Day in March on community health workers, bringing over 40 frontline workers and allies to Capitol Hill to educate policymakers. To prepare participants for this, PIH-US' advocacy team developed key messaging and coached advocates on how to share these with legislative staff. 
• Supported North Carolina's Community Health Worker Association on their second annual Advocacy Day in May, convening over 100 community health workers and allies to educate state legislators about their critical role. PIH-US trained advocates and assisted with scheduling legislator visits.
• Trained over 300 community health workers at the Arizona Community Health Worker Association Roots conference in June. 

It's crucial for legislators to hear directly from community health workers so they can help shape policies that impact their communities and profession. By continuing to support and empower community health workers through tailored advocacy and training, we can ensure their voices are heard, their profession is recognized, their roles are sustainably funded, and their impact on health and social service systems is fully realized.