Transforming community health worker research and evaluation

The Community Health Worker (CHW) Common Indicators Project is transforming CHW science at the same time that Congress, the CDC, and other federal agencies are making historic investments in CHW programs nationwide.
In this presentation, leaders of the project summarize the indicators and methods they are developing to understand how workforce policies shape community health worker practice and, thus, their pursuits of wellbeing and equity within the USA’s highly unequal socio-political system.
They also highlight the project’s commitment to a radical form of collaboration with historically marginalized CHWs serving as leaders, joined by allied researchers and other public health professionals who deeply value CHW knowledge and practice.
Speakers
Kenneth Maes, PhD is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the Applied Anthropology Graduate Program at Oregon State University. He has been a member of the Common Indicators Project leadership team since 2015. As a medical anthropologist, he is part of a diverse network of researchers in the US and around the world, and trains graduate students in mixed methods research in healthcare settings. As an ethnographer, he aims to carefully document the process and impacts of the Common Indicators Project. The purpose of the Community Health Worker (CHW) Common Indicators Project is to contribute to the integrity, sustainability, and viability of CHW programs.
Keara Rodela is the Community and Public Health Programs Supervisor for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). She earned her MPH in Global Maternal Child Health from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University and holds a BS in Community Health Education from Portland State University. She participated in the 2nd We Are Health, Afro-centric Community Health Worker (CHW) Training.
Pennie Jewell is a Community Health Representative (CHR) for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) in Fulton, Michigan, where she has served the Tribal community for the last six years. She is also a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician with an additional training in Special Needs Transportation. Pennie received her Associate Degree in Human Services from Kellogg Community College, and she is a current member of the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance, National Association of Community Health Workers, and Rural Community Health Worker Network. Pennie has been a strong advocate for the use of CHW/CHRs during her time with NHBP and has spent almost her entire career involved in case management and advocacy.
Future of Health
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