On the second day of National Community Health Worker (CHW) Awareness Week (August 25-29, 2025), Atlas Clarity is excited to share our latest report, “Strengthening Public Health with Community Health Workers.” Developed in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW), NationSwell, and Sanofi, this report is based on interviews with CHWs and CHW network leaders and with partners, employers, and funders. Research has long shown the positive impacts CHWs have on health programs and outcomes, particularly in rural and underserved communities. The community health stakeholders we interviewed gave us vital insight into the barriers and facilitators to their CHW programs’ sustainability and impact.
This report highlights a variety of successful initiatives, from programs led by CHWs independently to community program designs that engaged CHWs from the start. As our CEO Kristi Mitchell said, “There is a strong business case for integrating CHWs, but Medicaid reimbursement and sustainable financing is not enough. This report underscores the need for committed action from partners across the healthcare ecosystem, particularly partners in states and local communities, to make it happen.”
The report also provides some actionable recommendations for supporting CHWs in the health system:
- Partner with state and local CHW Networks and Associations on policy priorities while also increasing direct investments in sustainable CHW programs and partnerships focused on local community needs and health priorities.
- Design full-time, permanent care team roles for CHWs that are informed by CHW expertise, ensuring that the unique value of the CHW is preserved for optimal program impact.
- Bring in CHWs early as paid consultants and service providers when assessing community need and developing and implementing local programs.
- Support NACHW’s unification of the workforce, their training and professional development of CHWs, their support of state and local CHW networks, and their policy and advocacy work.
- When implementing programs that include CHW value, invest in quantifying disease-specific CHW impact and the return on investment of CHW programs, to further support funding.
The full “Strengthening Public Health with Community Health Workers” report is available for download at www.nachw.org/projects/strengthening-ph-chws.
If you have examples of the value of CHWs in your work, or if you’re a CHW with a sustainable funding model to share, we want to hear from you! Please email us at [email protected].