The City is proud to celebrate and honor our CHWs through an official proclamation declaring the week of August 26th - August 30th as National Community Health Worker Awareness week. Click here to read the full proclamation.
Introduced to the City by the Líderes Naturales, a local community group led by Hispanic & Latinx women and CHWs in Wood Village and the surrounding area, the National CHW Awareness week was developed to increase awareness of CHW identity, roles, impact on communities, and leadership – and to promote policies that respect, protect and authentically partner with the CHW profession.
As CHWs seeing a community need during the pandemic, the Líderes Naturales not only organized region-wide COVID-19 vaccine clinics but also educated and eased fears within the Hispanic & Latinx community around the pandemic, vaccines, and misinformation. The group also assisted with the 2020 census, going puerta a puerta (door to door), drastically increasing self-response rates amongst Hispanic & Latinx community members across the East County region. Post pandemic, the group continues its work connecting community members, including our most vulnerable populations, with critical resources and services covering both physical and mental health, community connectivity, climate resiliency, and so much more. Each year the group also hosts community events, like the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in September and Las Posadas in December, to bring the whole community together in celebration and recognition of the contributions of Hispanic and Latin cultures and peoples in our community.
In 2021, the City honored the Líderes Naturales with the title of Community Member of the Year, and year after year, the group continues to represent and uphold the title and the values associated with it. Wood Village and the greater East County region, is lucky to have the Líderes Naturales and the numerous other CHWs, whose work often goes unrecognized, serve our communities. If you would like to learn more about National CHW Awareness week or about CHWs, visit nachw.org/nchwaw.
