The KC Regional Community Health Worker Collaborative celebrates anniversary, surpassing goals

In 2016, the KC Regional Community Health Worker Collaborative set long-range goals to grow and sustain CHWs in the KC region and in Missouri and Kansas. Based on data from a performance review, the Collaborative reached — and in some cases, surpassed — the goals of their key objectives, which were to build capacity and to advocate for the growth and sustainability of CHWs in our region.

Measurable Outcomes
One of the Collaboratives most important goals was to increase the number of volunteer or employed CHWs in the region by 25%. The number of CHWs increased by 115%.
Likewise, the Collaborative set a goal to increase the number of organizations that use CHWs by 10%. The number of organizations increased by 200%. See a list of organizations.

Key accomplishments
One of the Collaborative’s key accomplishments was developing a CHW Core Competency curriculum. In partnership with Metropolitan Community College and funding from Health Forward Foundation, a curriculum and training program was developed and has been adopted for use in Missouri and Kansas.

The Collaborative developed and offered trainings to provide continued support to CHWs and their supervisors. To this end, they developed a Train-the-Trainer Program to ensure CHWs have a pathway to become instructors of the CHW curriculum; offered trainings for CHW supervisors to develop leadership and related supervisory skills; instituted the CHW Forum for ongoing peer support, case conferencing and professional development opportunities; created and offered continuing education units; offered a CHW Advocacy training series; and regularly offered facilitator and leadership training opportunities for CHWs.

The Collaborative also supported local organizations as they sought grant opportunities to support CHWs.

In addition, the Collaborative advocated for the development of a CHW certification in Kansas and Missouri. Both states have now established CHW certification programs, further cementing the role of CHWs in the states' health and human services systems.

Congratulations to the Collaborative for achieving these goals, and for building a solid foundation on which to build sustainability for Community Health Workers in the Kansas City region!