Racial Equity Efforts

A central tenet for CHASM is to empower Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) on the systems level through public policy and formative evaluation to advance racial equity and justice.

The following list is a sampling of efforts and programs on the racial equity front.

National

• National CHW Racial Equity Summit, RWJF HPRS Dissertation + APHA
• CHWs as Violence Prevention Professionals
• CHWs as Racial Equity Advocates
• Community-Based Public-Health response to Violence (CPrV)
• Racial Equity Learning & Action Community, as an Evaluator and Data Analyst

State and Local

• Objective is to train CHWs and expand the profession statewide within 4-5 years for approximately 400-500 CHWs
• CHASM provides an advisory role for racial equity CHW trainings and NC CHW curriculum
  - NC Racial Equity & CHW Cultural trainings,CDC CHW Covid Resiliency Grant
  - NC CHW Equity Task Force
• Sokoto House, Cultural Hub & Community Development Center
• SC CHW Racial Equity Training (PASOs + University of South Carolina)
• Youth - NC Coastal Pines, Girl Scouts, Troop 1382, as Co-leader
• Racial Equity for Frontline Workers, Boundary Scholars, Manufacturing Extension Partnerships & Economic Equity, Urban Planning Dept., UNC

Papers & Presentations

White paper: Blending participatory action synthesis and meta-ethnography: An innovative approach to evaluating complex community health transformation.
Journal of Participatory Research Methods (in press)

Economic Equity and Manufacturing Industry:
Nichola Lowe, Greg Schrock, Matt Wilson, Rumana Rabbani and Allison Forbes.
Gearing Up: Advancing Economic Inclusion through Manufacturing Extension. In preparation for Economic Development Quarterly.

2022 Pre-APHA CHW Racial Equity & Anti-Classism Workshop

APHA Community Health Worker Section hosted the Pre-APHA Summit: Working in Solidarity with CHWs to Address Racism and Structural Inequities, supported by CHASM who partnered with North Carolina AHEC, Center for Community Health Education Research and Science, and Northeastern Bouvé College of Health Sciences. This Summit was based on Rumana Rabbani's RWJF HPRS dissertation work addressing systemic racism faced by Community Health Workers.

The Summit was held at the John D. O'Bryant African-American Institute in Boston, MA. There were two days of meaningful content to equip attendees with tools and resources to address racism and structural inequities that impact the CHW profession.