1. To inform and unite culturally diverse community health outreach workers from all disciplines;
2. To strengthen the professional development of the field through resource sharing and collaborative opportunities with community, tribal, government, health, and educational institutions;
3. To create partnerships that build upon organizational capacities and strengths while aiding the under served and at-risk populations within Arizona; and
4. 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

Border Health Service Learning Institute
The Border Health Service Learning Institute was developed by the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Southeast Arizona Area Health Center (SEAHEC). The Institute is part of the Health Disparities Service Learning Collaborative, which is an Initiative of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health funded by the Learn and Service America Program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The overall goal of the Institute is to engage public health students in a service learning experience that contributes to reducing the health disparities at the U.S.-Mexico Border and at the same time increase the skills level of public health competencies. The Institute provides a one unit graduate credit field course for MPH students. The Institute includes 45 hours of academic and service learning during the summer and up to 20 MPH students participate. In 2008, it was implemented in the Douglas/Agua Prieta area. In 2009, it was implemented in Ambos Nogales Area.

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 ) at Mariposa Community Health Center at 520-375-6050.

First Things First Cochise County Regional Partnership Council, Coordination Plan
The Center is working with the First Things First (FTF) Cochise County Regional Partnership Council to build a coordinated service delivery network for children birth through age five, and develop community partnerships. The Center is sharing the Special Action Group model, which originated in 1997 as the Douglas Diabetes Working Group and has been replicated at various degrees in Santa Cruz and Yuma Counties. The Center will work with the FTF Cochise Council to build upon existing and new community partnerships and provide a Coordination Plan.

Masters of Public Health Courses
Some Masters of Public Health (MPH) courses that are being taught by CRCPHP staff include:

1. CPH 300: Community Health Sciences and Services
2. CPH 381: Health Education Intervention Methods
3. CPH 400: Contemporary Community Health Problems
4. CPH 512: Public Health Approach to Mental Health Disorders in the U.S.
5. CPH 516: Ethics, Values and Public Health Policy
6. CPH 563: U.S.-Mexico Border Health Policy
7. CPH 565: Public Health Advocacy
8. CPH 566: Participatory Action Research and Policy Change
9. CPH 567: Public Health Leadership and Management
10. CPH 574: Public Health Policy and Management
11. CPH 576: Biostatistics in Public Health
12. CPH 577: Sociocultural and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health
13. CPH 596E: Health Education/Behavioral Sciences Leadership Seminar
14. CPH 597C: Border Health Service Learning Institute
15. CPH 597D: Rural Health Service Learning Institute
16. CPH 628: Public Health Research and Evaluation
17. CPH 682: Women and Child Health Policy
18. CPH 696P: Public Health Policy and Management Field Seminar
19. CPH 696S: Biostatistics Seminar

For a description of these courses and for additional MPH courses, please visit The University of Arizona Schedule of Classes.