Community Health Works

Community Health Works
of San Francisco
A PARTNERSHIP OF SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY &
CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
Of all the
forms of
injustice,
inequality
in health is the
most shocking
and inhumane.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
F
ounded in 1992, Community Health Works of San Francisco is a nationally recognized center
for innovation in community health. We focus on public health and primary care for lowincome and immigrant communities. Two intertwined goals guide our work: to eliminate
health inequalities, and to diversify the public health and primary care workforce.
We are based in the California State University and Community College systems, two of the largest
systems of higher education in the world. Their 131 campuses provide public higher education to every
region and city in California, the most diverse state in the country. Together they prepare the great
majority of health professionals from communities of color. Our home base in the state universities
and community colleges holds great potential to be an engine for change in health.
Linking colleges and universities
with communities to
eliminate health inequalities
Education ■ Training
Applied Research ■ Advocacy in
Community Health
What We Do
INCUBATE
NEW PROGRAMS
We have developed innovative
educational certificates and model
prevention and disease
management programs in
public health priority areas
such as drug and alcohol
addiction and asthma. We
have a decade-long track
record of piloting new
programs and making them
permanent. This brings
long-term benefits to
students, community members,
and health providers.
NURTURE
FUTURE LEADERS
Our programs cultivate a diverse new
generation of program and policy leaders,
community leaders, and faculty in
community health.
In addition to skills training, we believe
that all health professionals need a broad
understanding of health disparities and the
crisis facing the US health system.
This is the basis for a
lifelong commitment to
community service and
advocacy for system
change, an ethic at the
foundation of all our
programs.
DISSEMINATION HUB
Through publications, video teleconferences, distance learning, train-thetrainer sessions, and networking, we share
promising new programs
with state and national
audiences. For example,
we worked with Kaiser
Permanente and the
Regional Health Occupations Resource Centers
to host a videoconference
on health care interpreters
for community colleges.
We also worked with partners nationally
to develop the YES WE CAN Toolkit
for prevention-oriented team care of
children’s asthma.
BRIDGE COMMUNITIES
AND RESEARCHERS
Community Health Works serves as a
two-way bridge between communities and
researchers. Working side by side with
community partners we translate research
advances into practical methods that
communities can put to immediate use.
CATALYZE PARTNERSHIPS
Our projects are built on collaborations
with community-based organizations,
public health departments, employers,
and organizations such as the Centers
for Disease Control, the San Francisco
Community Clinic Consortium, the
California Conference of Public Health
Officers, and Kaiser Permanente.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health
and well-being of themselves and of their family, including food,
clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services….
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Our Goals
ELIMINATE HEALTH INEQUALITIES
“Health disparities” are inequalities in
health associated with ethnicity/race,
gender, poverty, geography, occupation,
housing status, or sexual orientation.
These disparities are preventable.
We work to improve access to quality
healthcare and to address the unequal
conditions that are the root causes of
health inequality.
INCREASE WORKFORCE
DIVERSITY IN PUBLIC
HEALTH AND
PRIMARY CARE
People of color are the new
majority in California and
constitute 30% of the population
of the US. One-fourth to onethird of Latino and Asian/Pacific
Islander households in California
are linguistically isolated. Yet the
leadership and faculty of the health
workforce remain largely monolingual
and white.
We have a longstanding commitment to diversifying
the public and private health workforce at all levels. Four
out of five graduates of our CHW Certificate have been low-income people of color.
Virtually all graduates work in medically underserved communities. Our Welcome
Back program offers leadership and policy studies to internationally trained health
professionals.
Accomplishments
1992–PRESENT
■ Community Health Worker Certificate,
the first college credit CHW program in
the US. Combines performance based and
popular education approaches.
■ State and national dissemination of the
CHW Certificate.
■ The Health Train university transfer
program. Encourages transfer from
community college to California State
University.
■ Welcome Back: International Health
Worker Assistance Center. Reintegrates
internationally prepared health
professionals back into the health
workforce, and links them with immigrant
communities in need of linguistically and
culturally competent health professionals.
■ YES WE CAN (YWC): A medical/social
team model for chronic disease management. Relies on community health
workers to foster prevention-oriented
self management.
■ Drug and Alcohol Studies Certificate,
geared to the assets and needs of urban
low-income communities. A public health
approach to addiction.
■ San Francisco Bay Area Regional Health
Occupations Resource Center (RHORC).
Fosters quality education and services in
community colleges that develop the
health workforce.
■ Community Action to Fight Asthma
(CAFA). State coordinating office of an
initiative to reduce environmental causes
of asthma in children, on behalf of The
California Endowment.
■ Received three national and two state
awards for innovation.
■ Sister programs: HIV/STD Prevention
Education Certificate; Health Care
Interpreter Certificate; Urban Health
MPH Program.
Home Institutions
Department of Health Education Health Science Department
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Department of Health Education
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco CA 94132-4161
Telephone: (415) 338-3034
Fax: (415) 338-7948 ■ E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.communityhealthworks.org
THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS
■ The California Endowment
■ The US Department of Education, Fund for the
Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)
■ California Community Colleges, Chancellor’s Office,
Educational Services and Economic Development
Network (Ed>Net)
■ Kaiser Permanente
■ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
■ The Bernard Osher Foundation
■ The Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied
Technology Education Act
■ The California Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development (OSHPD)
■ Blue Cross of California Medi-Cal Program
Photos: Scott Braley, Rachel Agrin;
Balance symbol: Tondo Originals; Graphic design: Lisa Roth
OFFICES
San Francisco State University (Administrative Office)
City College of San Francisco, Ocean Campus (Certificate Programs)
City College of San Francisco, John Adams Campus (Welcome Back)
East Bay Office in Berkeley (Training and Publications)
California State Building, Oakland (CAFA)