Introduction: Why Community Health Workers (CHWs)?

This introductory chapter describes Community Health Workers (CHWs), what they do, and why the CHW model should be fully engaged and embraced by the health and social services systems. This chapter uses the term Community Health Workers (CHWs) to describe a variety of titles that fall under the CHW umbrella; while there are numerous terms to describe CHWs, their roles and competencies are similar. CHWs are trusted members who understand their community, which allows CHWs to serve as a bridge between health and social service providers and the community in order to facilitate access to services as well as to improve the quality and cultural competence of services. CHWs perform many roles, including cultural mediation; culturally appropriate health education and information; care coordination, case management, and system navigation; coaching and social support; individual and community capacity; direct services; individual and community assessments; outreach; and evaluation and research. The chapter concludes with making the case for engaging CHWs, citing several positive outcomes for participants who received CHW services.