Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development

Community Health Worker Training

Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide direct services to communities — filling many roles in our communities, such as case managers, outreach specialists, community organizers, peer workers, direct service workers and health education specialists. They provide services such as informal counseling, service coordination, health education, advocacy, cultural adaptations, system navigation and social support.

CHWs use their existing relationships and connections to the community to partner with clients to support them in overcoming health disparities. They help by addressing root causes of poor health, such as a lack of housing, employment, finances, food and healthcare. 

Over the last several years, the Center has worked to empower, grow and sustain this critical workforce in Montana by:

• Developing online training for new and existing CHWs to improve their skills.
• Hosting an advisory board to discuss community needs and formalize future funding opportunities to maintain the CHW workforce.
• Establishing a CHW Committee to standardize CHW work in Montana. 

This program is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2,930,656.00 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.