most onboarding is forgettable.

The typical scenario…

A stack of paperwork.

A tour of the office.

A few logins you’ll reset by Friday.

Maybe even a lunch that can feel more like an obligation, than a welcome.

Then, somehow… somewhere around week three,

The new hire is still figuring out what they’re supposed to be doing.

Community Health Workers deserve better than that.

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a founder with a vision, a scrappy team that believes in the mission,

a few early wins that prove the concept, and then….momentum.

But, is that really true?

Here’s what it actually looks like:

a team meeting where the laptop dies mid-presentation.

A timesheet system that nobody filled out consistently.

A conversation about whether weekly priorities should live in a Word doc, a Slack message, or an emoji.

A CEO who takes full ownership of every gap, every inconsistency, everything that didn’t stick, and then asks her team, openly, what do we actually want to do differently?

That second version?

That’s us.

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This past December, the CHW Coalition gathered, as we do every other Monday, for what we call a Momentum Meeting. It’s our version of a team check-in: which leverages part strategy, part community, and sometimes, if we’re honest with each other, part therapeutic release.

Sometimes, we find that what happens in those meetings, are worth sharing.

The person leading our wellness session was also in crisis.

We start each momentum meeting with what we call a Take 5. It’s a time for us to share knowledge with one another in 5 minutes of less; this meeting, our Operations and Innovations Associate, led the Take 5.

She was already navigating a season that would have flattened most people. Her father had been through two brain surgeries in the span of a month and was on a ventilator. Her sister had just called in tears, due to personal constraints. And to top it off, that morning, her heating unit broke down in the middle of a cold snap.

She still showed up. She still led the meeting’s wellness segment. And she opened with something that a lot of us don’t say out loud:

“I don’t know how I’m functioning.”

What followed was one of the most grounding conversations our team has had. Not because anyone had the answers. But because everyone had the courage to say what was actually true for them.

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It is not the exhaustion of indifference.

It is the exhaustion of caring deeply, every single day, in systems that were not built to sustain the people doing

the caring.

Over the two years of 2016 - 2018, nine of us found each other.

We were community-facing professionals, CHWs, and we started gathering not because someone told us to,

but because we needed to. We needed a room where we didn’t have to explain ourselves. Where the work

was understood before the first sentence was finished.

That room became something.

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Them: “An entrepreneur who’s really good at networking?”

If you chuckled—or resonated with that response—you’re not alone.

Social entrepreneurship is often misunderstood, but it’s far more profound (and impactful) than just being social. Curious to learn more?

Keep reading!

Maybe,

when you think of an entrepreneur,

the image…

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Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Have you heard someone say…

“I’m taking a mental health day,”

or, more frequently, “I just need to get through the week”?

That feeling of needing to “push through” often comes wi…

Read more

Let me start here.

The Community Health Worker Coalition, formerly known as the St Louis Community Health Worker Coalition,

was not born in a boardroom.

It didn’t start with a strategic plan or a perfectly organized org chart.

It started in real places.

Classrooms.

Library tables.

Gallery spaces.

Side conversations after long days of work.

It started with people who understood something deeply: health doesn’t start in hospitals.

It starts in neighborhoods.

In trust.

In relationships.

In lived experience.

That’s the root of everything we do.

Here’s What We Knew Had to Change

From the beginning, we held a belief that felt simple,

Yet, also disruptive.

Community Health Workers deserve more than being treated like a role,

a program add-on,

or a temporary solution.

We (CHWs) deserve to be recognized as a formal workforce.

As professionals.

As leaders, in and out of community.

As partners in shaping systems, not just carrying out someone else’s plan.

The Coalition formed because too many good things were happening in isolation.

The Coalition formed as a response to fragmentation, and the need for workforce infastructure.

Organizations were doing solid work.

CHWs were carrying deep wisdom and skill.

And systems were asking for outcomes without investing in the people closest to the work.

We decided to build something different.

From the beginning, our work has centered CHWs not as “boots on the ground,”, but as partners in

collaboration and decision-making.

We Chose a Village on Purpose

Here’s the best way I know how to explain how we see ourselves.

The Coalition doesn’t operate like a city.

The Coalition operates like a village.

A city can feel centralized. Hierarchical. Distant.

A village is relational. Shared. Connected.

A village says: we all carry responsibility here.

A village says: leadership is collective, not concentrated.

A village says: you don’t build something strong by rushing past the people.

That village mindset shapes how we grow,

how we govern,

and how we stay accountable to the people who make this workforce real.

A village values relationships over rigidity, shared responsibility over silos, and collective leadership over

individual authority

Let’s Be Clear—Because This Gets Misunderstood

We are clear about who CHWs are, and who they are not.

CHWs are not disposable labor,

CHWs should not be boxed into one issue area,

and CHWs are a silver bullet for broken systems.

The Coalition is intentional about naming truth, especially where misunderstanding exists.

Community Health Workers are not:

Social workers or case managers, though they may share overlapping skills or dual certifications,

however, the certifications are different.

Disposable supports used solely to gather neighborhood-level data

Boxed into addressing only one health issue

“Boots on the ground” without decision-making power

A silver bullet for broken systems

A workforce owned by one institution or sector

A plug-and-play role that ignores relationship, trust, and context

We (CHWs) are

trusted messengers,

systems navigators,

advocates,

storytellers,

and community builders.

Our value lives in credibility, cultural responsiveness, and deep community knowledge.

The power of a CHW lies in our multidisciplinary approach,

our cultural responsiveness,

and our ability to move between institutions and neighborhoods with credibility.

This clarity shapes everything we do from our

trainings,

credentialing,

leadership development,

advocacy,

and narrative change.

Leadership That Comes From the Work

Leadership in this Coalition isn’t symbolic.

It’s personal.

Our founders, previously known as our Board of Leaders, are all community health workers.

Every one of them is a CHW.

Our governance evolved intentionally.

What began as a traditional board structure transformed into a Board of Leaders, a model that reflects the

reality of community leadership.

Our very first founder came from the very first cohort to ever exist, Cohort 1.

From there, leadership emerged cohort by cohort, all the way through Cohort 7, each leader bringing

perspective shaped by community, practice, and time in the field.

Our leaders represent diverse cohorts, sectors, and lived experiences, spanning health, criminal justice,

employment, advocacy, grassroots organizing, and beyond.

This is not symbolic diversity; it is functional.

It allows the Coalition to think systemically while staying grounded in real-world impact.

This matters.

Because decisions about CHWs should never be made without CHWs at the table.

The Coalition isn’t leadership removed from the work.

Our leadership shapes our work.

From One Cohort to a Movement

The first cohort, Cohort 1, of Community Health Workers in the St Louis region was trained in 2016, marking a

pivotal moment in workforce development.

That was ten years ago, y’all. WOW.

What started as a small but mighty group has grown steadily and deliberately.

Fast forward to now.

We are entering Cohort 31 at the start of February, and there are more than 400 Community Health Workers

across our region connected through this work and our Coalition. There are more than 900 CHWs across the

state of Missouri.

That didn’t happen by accident.

It happened because CHWs stayed connected.

It happened because institutions started listening differently.

And it happened because the Coalition committed to building infrastructure that honors lived experience

alongside professional development.

As the Coalition grew, so did the need for structure that honored the work.

Over these 10 years, we’ve partnered closely with the St. Louis Community College (STLCC) to support CHW

training and certification pathways. STLCC has been a massive contributor to growing our workforce across

the region and state.

Together, the Coalition and the workforce, STLCC and trusted regional partners from our HEAL table,

supported statewide professionalization and credentialing efforts to ensure CHWs could be

recognized,

compensated,

and sustained,

not just accepted.

At the same time, the Coalition built spaces for connection and restoration.

Spaces like our annual workforce retreats; We host retreats, not as a luxury, but as restoration.

Breakfasts with the board. Live gallery walks. Community conversations.

We hold conferences, formal and block party style, that blend learning, advocacy, and joy.

We create regular spaces where Coalition leadership and the workforce stay in real relationship.

Regional HEAL partnerships meetings, hosting 50+ organizations monthly.

These were not add-ons; they were essential to the stabilization and growth of the workforce.

Why?

Because sustainable work requires

nourishment,

reflection,

and joy alongside rigor

Because burnout is real. And sustainability requires more than productivity.

Professional Doesn’t Mean Distant

We take professional identity seriously, therefore, once we got our certification systemized and, in a routine, we

began our quest towards statewide professional credentialing.

The Coalition aligns with a statewide competency framework that includes:

Self-awareness and professionalism

Service coordination and systems navigation

Education and advocacy

Community capacity building

Effective communication and documentation

Cultural responsiveness

Individual and community assessment

And more

Credentialing in Missouri went live in December 2019, helping us formalize the workforce without stripping

away its soul; further professionalizing the workforce while honoring its roots.

Maintaining that balance mattered deeply to us, and it took…

deep intention,

relationship building across the state,

and relentless advocacy.

Ultimately, we achieved...

Structure and humanity.

Credentials and relationships.

Because Burnout Is Real

Villages don’t survive on task lists alone.

That’s why we invest in connection beyond day-to-day work.

In recent years, we leaned fully into narrative advocacy,

because policy follows story.

Through initiatives like this, Words from the Workforce,

we pay CHWs to tell their own stories, honoring their intellectual property and lived expertise.

These stories challenge stereotypes, surface truth, and reframe how systems understand community health.

They are not limited by geography or funding cycles.

Stories travel.

Stories penetrate boundaries.

Stories stick.

Here’s Where We’re Headed

As we keep growing,

our focus stays steady.

We are building a workforce that is supported,

respected,

and positioned for long-term impact,

not just short-term wins.

We’re building systems that last.

and relationships that hold.

And, the best part, we’re doing it together.

A village cannot thrive in isolation.

That’s why the Coalition is deeply committed to connection points that go beyond work tasks and deliverables.

Let Me Ask You Something

Today, the Coalition sits at the intersection of

workforce development,

policy,

narrative change,

and social enterprise.

We are building tools, workflows, and systems that help CHWs and organizations thrive, not just survive.

We are expanding from regional roots to statewide and national influence,

while staying accountable to the communities that shaped us.

And like the CHWs we serve,

we are doing the work with clarity, courage, and sometimes even “doing the thing scared.”

Because extraordinary things really do happen outside the boundaries.

As the Coalition continues to evolve, our focus remains the same:

building a workforce that is supported, respected, and positioned for long-term impact.

We are building systems, relationships, and narratives…

that last.

As we look toward the future,

we invite you into the conversation.

So, let me end by asking you something.

What are your ideas for the 2026 CHW Retreat?

What type of event would help you better connect with Coalition leadership?

What spaces would help you feel more supported, seen, or heard as a CHW?

Drop your thoughts in the comments for us!

This isn’t just a Coalition.

This is your village.

And we’re still building the table, together.

Our story is still being written.

noun:

the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own effort or skills

Imposter syn…

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… The fresh out of certification Community Health Worker.

… The newly appointed lead

… or that individual stretching out of their comfort zone-

because extraordinary things, did in fact, happen outside of your own boundaries.

If I’m being honest with you..

This note is for me, too.

For her, the one still questioning it all.

I am a little frightened by the power of what I can create. I am starting my first major project with an organization that I value- they pour back into the community and are pillars of the work we do.

And in all transparency, I am frightened.

I want to do it “right”, but I am thinking that the incompleteness of my vision is what’s holding me back. The desire to stretch is there, but outside of the boundaries is the unknown. That’s the part that really scares me.

Yet,

… I want to curate pieces like one does at an art gallery or museum.

I want to take the words of our workforce- our experiences, lessons, successes- and paint the definition of Community Health Work through narrative artistry.

Because, we are more than a title or job description.

Words From the Workforce is an opportunity for everyone in this workforce who call themselves CHWs to confront the very vulnerability they’re presented.

My desire is to live outside of the boundaries I’ve set for myself, or allowed others to set for me, is stronger than the fear I think I’m feeling.

This is proof.

I’m doing the “thing” scared.

Will you join me?

This was something, some would call rare:
a gathering of raw, brave, deeply, human voices.

It wasn’t rare for us at all; it’s our village.

From 16 to 65, from dancers to doulas, from veterans to visionaries, the CHW Coalition’s second Mental Health Listening Session was less of a meeting and more of a mirror.

Read more

The takeaway?
We’re not okay, and we’re done pretending otherwise.

At our recent Mental Health Listening Session, something rare happened, every person spoke.

From 18 to 78 years old, representing more than eight different social backgrounds, men and women showed up ready to tell the truth about what mental health looks like where they live. The stories they shared weren’t easy, but they were honest, and they reminded us that the solutions we need are already in the room, if we’re willing to listen.

It wasn’t a panel.
It wasn’t a presentation.
It was a circle...
with real people in a real room, telling the truth about mental health in St. Louis.

Parents, clinicians, and neighbors sat shoulder to shoulder, trading stories that rarely get airtime. It was the kind of stories you don’t hear in city council meetings or clinical reports.

One thing became clear in those stories, our neighborhoods are not just under- resourced- they’re often unheard.

And yet, we spoke.

Neighbors gathered at STLCC William J. Harrison Center for a powerful listening session, and the invitation was simple: bring your lived experience.

Keep reading to unfold some of the raw, honest, and necessary conversation that occurred on mental health. Not in abstract terms. But from the mouths of parents, clinicians, community leaders, and residents who have seen, and been asked to carry, too much, often without the proper support.

What We Heard

We heard urgency.

• We heard about parents raising children while battling unhealed wounds of their own.

• We heard about teens self-diagnosing depression using TikTok and ChatGPT because they can’t wait six months for an evaluation.

“We out here drowning,” one attendee said, capturing the weight many parents feel trying to keep up with a generation raised on algorithms and isolation.

We heard frustration.

• Frustration with the “warm handoffs” that go cold.

• Frustration with over prescribed meds and under-delivered care.

• Frustration with systems that treat symptoms instead of people.

  One participant likened “resilience” in their neighborhood to walking into a club after having a gun pulled on them; unfazed because survival has become a baseline.

  We heard insight.

• Mental health services aren’t just scarce, they’re mismatched.

• Mental health services are designed for people who already trust the system, who have time,

  transportation, and comfort with screens.

• In many communities, especially Black and Brown ones, it can be difficult to see themselves in the

  mental health offerings.
  “You do surveys on people already receiving care. You don’t come to the block,” someone said.

  That’s what made OUR session, led by the CHW Coalition, different. The facilitation style, according to participant feedback, didn’t just invite feedback it created a container where people knew they were heard.

  That matters.

  The stats may tell one story; our circle told another.

  The Missing Pieces

• Accessible services that don’t require a 3-month wait.

• Holistic care that addresses mental health without automatically defaulting to medication.

• Support for the supporters: moms, caretakers, and CHWs.

• Services for teens who are labeled, instead of listened to.

• Mental health supports embedded in community, not just clinics.

  One parent shared:

  “I don’t need someone to just treat my kid. I need someone to teach me how to show up better for my kid.”

  Another added:

  “We don’t need more programs. We need people who know how to stay.”

  What’s Working (And Needs More Love)

  Despite the gaps that were expressed in the discussion, sparks of hope emerged too:

• Peer Support Groups: Especially for postpartum parents, trauma survivors, and justice-involved individuals.

• Investment in CHWs with lived experience: People who don’t need cultural competency training because we are the culture.

• Neighborhood Rituals: Friday night garage gatherings, unconventional check-ins, quiet support systems that don’t make the news but make a difference.

  And perhaps most importantly, we heard the need for tough, supported conversations, spaces to say the hard things and still be held.

  The Next Step Starts with You.

  If any part of this article resonates with you, we ask you to do just one thing: Take the anonymous survey.

  Let’s turn our stories into action.

  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mhb_ps

  Every insight matters. Every voice counts. Especially, yours.

  And this time, we’re not letting it go unheard. Thank you for reading!

When you hear the term 'frontline worker," what emotions and thoughts come to mind?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Leave a comment

Now let’s get into the article..

When did community work become synonymous with war?

How often have you heard the term "frontline worker" in healthcare, public health, and social services?

Did it feel like the use of the phrase increased sharply during the pandemic?

Can I be honest with you?

I don't really like it.

It just doesn't seem right.

Here's the thing….

As community health workers, we're deeply embedded in our communities. We roll up our sleeves and dive into the very heart of the issues and challenges our neighbors face every day. Maybe that's why the idea of comparing our work to warfare feels off. Check out this research article called "Usage of English Military Terminologies as a Neutral and Colloquial Vocabulary" by the Current Research Journal of Philological Sciences. It talks about how military jargon creeps into everyday language, especially during times of stress and conflict. But is that really appropriate for the work we do in our communities?

Think about it.

The intensity of war. The trauma it leaves behind. Is that really what community work is all about?

Even during crises like COVID-19, I'd argue it's not the same.

Simply put, words matter. Language matters. Narrative matters.

Don't just take my word for it.

Read more