The CHW Place-based Approach to Health (CHW PATH) is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Minority Health (OMH), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The goal of CHW PATH is to create CHW job opportunities for residents of public housing and to assess the benefits of embedding CHWs within their own public housing communities to provide peer-to-peer support for health and social needs. CHW PATH is a pilot within the Jobs Plus program and aims to develop novel CHW positions that are informed by existing CHW models/roles (e.g., care coordinator/navigator, health educator, cultural mediator, community organizer, promotores de salud) while tailored for the unique needs and contexts of public housing settings.
The health centers involved in implementation are:
• AxessPointe Community Health Center (Akron, Ohio) – coordinates with the Akron Metropolitan Public Housing Authority to bring services to residents of public housing, including older adults and people with disabilities, with funding from CHW-PATH. Mobile units support the provision of enabling services, with outreach done by CHWs who know the residents, health care providers, and public housing managers. The CHWs are shared by the health center and the local Public Housing Agency (PHA). PHAs are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide housing for low-income individuals.
• WATTS Healthcare Corporation (Los Angeles, CA) – was invited by HUD and the Office of Minority Health (OMH) to develop and implement a Jobs Plus Community Health Worker program in coordination with the Nickerson Gardens housing complex. Also involved in this collaborative was the PHA of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and the Interdepartmental Health Equity Collaboration (IHEC).
CHW PATH key partners include:
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Office of Minority Health (OMH)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Office of Public and Indian Housing, HUD
- Office of Field Policy and Management, HUD
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Office of Environmental Justice, EPA
- Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC)
- Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA)
OMH is supporting CHW PATH with FY19-21 funds and plans to provide additional funding upon receipt of FY20 Congressional appropriations. HUD is leveraging resources and in-kind support from Jobs Plus investments (total of $13.6M allocated for all sites over 4 years) to support CHW PATH.
For more information on this partnership, go to Collaborations Toolkit, Community Partnerships to Address the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Residents of Public Housing.