High schoolers completing the Chicago AHEC Youth Community Health Worker Pathway Program marked their graduation from the program this week.

The CHW Pathway program is a paid six-week course for rising high school juniors and seniors. Through weekly virtual classes, field trips to local health facilities, and student-led community health projects, the course provides participants with the background to go on to become community health workers, or CHWs.

CHWs are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of and/or have an unusually close understanding of the community served that enables them help link community members to health and social services.

The spring and summer classes of the Chicago AHEC CHW Pathways Program enrolled 24 students from 10 high schools on or West Side of Chicago and the south suburbs.

The celebration held this week honored the 19 who completed the course.

Anna Yankelev, MBA, MPH, the Director of Strategic Workforce Initiatives at Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, Chicago AHEC’s host organization, gave a presentation of Chicago-area training programs that would help the course completers take the next step to becoming full-fledged CHWs. The CHW field is still developing, she said. People “often see it as an entry-level position, but it is not a dead end position.” It is important work in itself, and the skills are transferable to other careers in the clinical, education, advocacy, social work fields as well as CHW management.

CHW Pathway participants and Ronisha Edwards-Elliot at Family Christian Health Center.

“This program is valuable,” said Ronisha Edwards-Elliot, director of Chicago AHEC. “It offers students an introduction to CHW and other health professions while meeting students where they are and addressing barriers that interfere with their learning.”

The event was also attended by Health & Medicine Deputy Director Gita Krishnaswamy, MPH, MEd, and Perrin Green, DSW, Dean of Community and Continuing Education at Malcolm X Community College. Malcolm X is one of three colleges in the state offering the CHW curriculum approved by the Illinois Community College Board, which provides for stackable basic, advanced and AAS certificates.

Jennifer Plascencia, MPH, the course instructor, shared videos of three PSAs – on mental health, sexually transmitted diseases, and bullying – created student teams. Students received a certificate of successful completion as well as a CPR certificate.

Family members of the students attended. All were treated to refreshments from Chipotle.

Instructor Anna Yankelev and Ronisha Edwards-Elliot with some of the course completers.

The training program, led by Chicago AHEC and Health & Medicine, was made possible by UIC Champions, Malcolm X College, the Cook County Department of Public Health, the Christopher Foundation, After School Matters, Family Christian Health Center, and Governors State University.