Arizona Community Health Outreach Workers Network (AzCHOW) -- Leadership Development
AzCHOW is an organization of, by, and for community health outreach workers. AzCHOW is designed to create unity while preserving cultural diversity among community health outreach workers. The mission of AzCHOW is:
- To inform and unite culturally diverse community health outreach workers from all disciplines;
- To strengthen the professional development of the field through resource sharing and collaborative opportunities with community, tribal, government, health, and educational institutions;
- To create partnerships that build upon organizational capacities and strengths while aiding the under served and at-risk populations within Arizona; and
- To address relevant political and policy issues.
The AzCHOW Network is a statewide organization of community-based advocates who lead by using resource sharing, partnership development, education, outreach, health promotion, and disease prevention strategies to improve the health of Arizona residents. AzCHOW provides an opportunity for all community health outreach workers, regardless of how they are identified within their organizations, to develop a collective voice for addressing policy issues, methods of becoming financially sustainable, and the expansion of their professional standing in Arizona. AzCHOW is working to become an incorporated, non-profit, self-sustaining organization. It has received financial and technical support from the Arizona Area Health Education Centers (AzAHEC) and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH). All individuals working as community health outreach workers, no matter what their official title, are invited to join AzCHOW. Annual membership dues are $15. For more information or to receive an application form call Nancy Collyer, the AzCHOW Technical Advisor and Senior Program Coordinator for The University of Arizona Area Health Education Centers Program, at 520-629-4300, ext. 121, or collyer@u.arizona.edu.
Community Health Worker Evaluation Toolkit
The CHW Evaluation Toolkit is an internationally known resource for organizations/ programs employing CHWs edited by Dr. Joel Meister. In the development of this tool, Dr. Meister and associates worked closely with many community-based organizations. Over 500 individuals and agencies worldwide as of 2002 have purchased the Toolkit. A user satisfaction survey is now under analysis; as many favorable responses were received. Results will be used to revise future editions of the Toolkit, particularly the Web-based version, as well as to identify innovative uses of this publication and any other unintended consequences.
Community Health Worker (CHW) Evaluation Toolkit website
Advocacy Training for Policy Change in the Community
The CRCPHP is working with public health agencies and community leaders to develop an advocacy skills-building workshop to be offered to public health practitioners, community leaders and activists in our partner communities. Advocacy education will also include a graduate level course to be offered in the MPH program at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH).
Border Women's Health Promotora Institute (Mariposa Community Health Center)
In 2004, the Mariposa Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health of the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Ariozna, was awarded a contract from the DHHS Office of Women’s Health to develop a Border Women’s Health Promotora Institute (BWHPI). Mariposa Community Health Center in primary partnership with the University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has developed an educational program that fosters and enhances leadership and advocacy capabilities of women lay health workers/promotoras. The effort targets promotoras from among the 10 US and Mexico Border States. This collaborative effort has included partnerships with the Arizona Office of Border Health, health planning repsresentatives form Tohono O’Odham as well as counterparts in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico from among the Colegio de Sonora, MEXFAM and the Red Fronteriza de Salud y Ambiente.
The Promotoras identified to participate in this Institute carry out local projects responsive to Healthy Border 2010 and the Pick Your Path to Health models. In addition, experience and lessons learned from the Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health model will are considered. The pilot phase of this effort will took place in January, 2006. Twelve pairs of promotoras and their supervisors participated. These duos came from the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Chihuahua, Arizona and Sonora. The subsequent institute will include participation from Texas, California, Baja California, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon. The next Institute is scheduled in May 2007 and will take place in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. For more information or to participate please contact Carmen Ferlan (ccferlan@mariposachc.net ) or Jo Jean Elenes (jelenes@mariposachc.net ) at Mariposa Community Health Center at 520-375-6050.
Masters of Public Health Courses
Some Masters of Public Health (MPH) courses that are being taught by CRCPHP staff include:
- CPH 516: Ethics, Values and Public Health Policy
- CPH 565: Public Health Advocacy
- CPH 566: Participatory Action Research and Policy Change
- CPH 567:
Public Health Leadership and Management
- CPH 577: Sociocultural and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health
For a description of these courses and for additional MPH courses, please visit The University of Arizona Schedule of Classes.
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