The Community Health Workers (CHW) Section actively promotes the voice of community health workers within public health systems and in communities by providing a forum to share resources and strategies.
We also contribute to the development of the CHW role (e.g., promotores de salud, community health representatives, community health advisors) through policy and development opportunities.
The CHW Section was initially established as a Special Primary Interest Group in 1970 and became a Section in 2009.
What is a community health worker?
The CHW Section has adopted the following definition:
A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve as a liaison/link/intermediary between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.
A community health worker also builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support and advocacy.
This definition was first developed by the CHW Section and codified through APHA policy in 2009.
Our Work
- Leadership Development: Continue our tradition of electing community health workers to our highest leadership positions, with support from allies and students. National recognition of community health worker leadership serves as a source of inspiration and power for community health workers everywhere.
- Membership Engagement: Recruit and retain community health worker allies and students as members of the Section. This will occur through local and regional networks, health networks, academic networks, and independent professional associations of community health workers throughout the United States and tribal communities as well as at national meetings where community health workers gather.
- CHW Recognition: Acknowledge and recognize the CHW workforce. We offer annual scholarships to CHWs to aid attendance in the Annual Meeting, in large part thanks to a generous contribution from the Harold and Grace Sewell Memorial Trust Fund. Awards include a CHW of the Year Award and CHW Group Award.
- Policy Development: Develop and support policies that promote the CHW workforce and CHW self-determination. Share best practices and advance institutional, national, state and local policies that support the CHW workforce and self-determination.
Member Benefits
As a member of our Section, you can help grow our legacy in public health practice! We offer many opportunities to get involved, such as joining Section leadership, collaborating with other organizations and partners, influencing APHA policies and priorities, reviewing abstracts and presenting your research at the APHA Annual Meeting.
Join Us!
Your participation is vital to our continued success. Become an active member of the Section when you join APHA. If you are already an APHA member, you can join as your second Section for no additional cost by updating your member profile.
Attend Events
Check out the APHA calendar for upcoming Section events and browse our sessions at the 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo.
Visit on APHA LEAD
Members can visit us on APHA LEAD to learn about upcoming events, join in discussions with other Section members, and access our Section’s resource library.
Follow on Social Media
Find us on Facebook and X to receive up-to-date information on Section happenings as well as professional development opportunities.
Contribute
Support our efforts by making a donation. Donations to the CHW Section’s Enrichment Fund directly support CHW scholarships to the Annual Meeting and our CHW award winner recognition ceremony at the Section’s social.