Montefiore Einstein Awarded $2 Million New York State Department of Health Grant to Advance Education and Training of Community Health Workers

In recognition of Montefiore Einstein’s steadfast commitment to advancing health equity in the communities it serves, the New York State Department of Health has awarded the Community Health Worker Institute (CHWI) a $2 million grant to fund more robust education and extensive training for community health workers.

The Department of Health grant comes on top of another $8.3 million in grants awarded to Kevin P. Fiori, MD, MPH, MSc, FAAP, Vice Chair, Community Health & Engagement, Chief, Community & Population Health, Pediatrics, Director, Community Health Worker Institute, Montefiore Einstein, and Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Family and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, from various foundations since Montefiore Einstein launched the institute in 2021 to educate and empower local health workers to fill gaps between medical care and social services in the Bronx, with the goal of increasing access to healthcare and improving health outcomes.

Until now, Montefiore Einstein’s community health workers have completed their certificate training through a partnership with Hostos Community College of the City University of New York. The Department of Health grant will provide the necessary resources to expand community health worker education into a compensated, intensive four-week program that better prepares trainees to help families meet their most pressing needs, including safe, quality housing; food security; healthcare access; child and adult care; transportation; and legal services.

Most basic community health worker programs include an average of 81 hours of education and 80 hours of on-the-job training. The state grant allows Montefiore Einstein to offer double the number of classroom hours and, incredibly, a full year—approximately 2,000 hours—of supervised patient engagement. The expanded program is available to current community health workers and provides for the full training of 16 new enrollees, making the total number of health workers served 24.

Once coursework and the required number of job hours are completed, trainees will have the opportunity to earn full apprenticeship certification, recognized by the New York State Department of Labor, providing a stronger foundation for those who choose to pursue future healthcare careers.

Montefiore Einstein’s role as an academic medical center, combining education, research and clinical care in one of the state’s most diverse and underserved counties, ideally positions the CHWI as a model for training this new type of workforce.

“We are grateful for this new funding, which will help ensure we are enhancing experiences for our community health workers, but also will provide a road map for how to share and replicate community health worker best practices elsewhere,” Dr. Fiori said.

The Community Health Worker Institute and the accompanying Community Health Systems Lab, a program of the Division of Community & Population Health, Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, supports community health initiatives and embedded research that address health-related social needs, integrate community health workers into care delivery and embed health system insights into real-world practice.

The crucial work that community health workers perform is informed by Montefiore Einstein’s screening for social determinants of health (SDOH), conditions that people are born into, work in and live in that impact health outcomes. These can include housing, employment, education and family situations. Montefiore Einstein has screened more than 215,000 patients for SDOH and identified at least 15% as having at least one social need.

“Our community health workers are the Bronx,” said Scott E. Wetzler, PhD, Vice Chair,  Population Health, Montefiore Einstein, and Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Co-Principal Investigator of the New York State Department of Health grant. “They are creative and hardworking, and some have also had to overcome challenges like inadequate housing and food insecurity. Having that firsthand experience on the frontlines, backed by this new education and training program, brings an amazing opportunity for us to learn from the experiences of our colleagues.”

If you would like to be part of this work or have any questions, please contact the Community Health Worker Institute at 718-430-3667.