WED-022 - Amplifying Community Voices by Developing Non-traditional Public Health Advocates

Brief Abstract Summary: Learn how Community Catalyst's Vaccine Equity and Access Program provided traditional health serving organizations by funding a diverse network of grassroots CBOs with capacity-building assistance (CBA) to equip them to continue being trusted public health agents post-pandemic.
Community Catalyst provided comprehensive training and technical assistance to CBOs to enhance their capacity in health education and promotion. This included training in areas such as Community Health Worker/Promotor, Motivational Interviewing, Powerbuilding and Organizing, Policy and Advocacy, and Storytelling. Evaluations showed an increase in CBOs' knowledge and skills.

Community Catalyst's investment in CBA has created a sustainable public health infrastructure for these CBOs, empowering them to address health challenges long after the pandemic.

Detailed abstract description: The impact of community-based organizations (CBOs) was made evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many of these organizations utilized their capacity to support the public health infrastructure by serving as trusted messengers imparting reliable information that was timely and relevant to the communities being served in an effort to increase vaccination acceptance and combat misinformation. However, CBOs are often under-resourced, underfunded, and in need of capacity-building assistance (CBA) that will sustainably equip them to address the social determinants of health and decrease health disparities within their communities.
Through its Vaccine Equity and Access Program (VEAP), Community Catalyst provided CBA to CBOs to increase vaccine coverage for adults in racial and ethnic populations experiencing disparities in the United States. Recognizing the long-term need for strong community health infrastructure, in the third year of the project, there was a strong focus on sustainability and equipping CBOs to continue being trusted sources and public health agents, post pandemic.
CBOs were located across 31 states and Puerto Rico, with over half focusing on social justice and advocacy rather than traditional health services. Located in 31 states and Puerto Rico, in the previous two years, they trained and engaged over 52,000 trusted messengers, many (over 60%) of whom were community members with no formal public health or health education training. This demonstrates the power of community-led initiatives in addressing complex health challenges.
Comprehensive training and support were provided to equip CBOs with the necessary skills to effectively develop and implement public health campaigns and health education beyond their vaccination education programs. VEAP staff and consultants provided 325 instances of technical assistance to 85.3% of CBO partners during Year 3 of the project, averaging 4.0 technical assistance per CBO partner. Ten training topics were provided, with five specific training programs were offered to enhance CBOs' capacity in health education and promotion. Community Health Worker/Promotores in both English and Spanish, Motivational Interviewing, Powerbuilding and Organizing, Policy and Advocacy, and Storytelling.Overall, evaluations results indicated increases in knowledge through pre-post test and homework activities.
Community Catalyst's investment in CBA focused on sustainability and public health education skills building has positioned these organizations as long-term leaders in public health well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.