Community health workers, trained upstream.
One community health worker (CHW) training program built to Ohio's standard curriculum, with five pathways in: adults starting out, violence interrupters and credible messengers, high school students in the Junior Community Health Worker program through HPAC, people already doing CHW work, and college students headed into the health professions. Every pathway shares the same core. Adults finish with the Ohio CHW certificate; high school students finish with the Junior CHW certificate and apply for the Ohio certificate at 18.
Built to the Ohio Board of Nursing standards for CHW training programs (OAC 4723-26-12 and 4723-26-13, effective February 1, 2025). Program approval application in preparation.
We look past the symptom to the street, the policy, and the assets.
Health is made upstream, in the places where people live, learn, work, pray, and play. Our graduates do the core work every Ohio CHW does, and they also leave able to name the upstream cause behind a client's problem, find the community asset that can answer it, and bring the community into the solution.
Upstream
Every module pairs what we see in a person with why it happens and what the community already holds to answer it.
Asset-based
Graduates map people, places, institutions, and knowledge, then combine them in new ways. The Asset-Based Paradigm runs through the whole program.
We, not me
We learn, serve, and lead together. The community is both the challenge and the strongest solution maker.
Citizen leaders
Every student runs an IDEAS project with a community partner during the practicum: Identify, Develop, Enact, Assess, Share.
Choose the pathway that fits where you are
Every pathway completes the same core: 110 classroom hours online, 12 lab hours in person, and 130 clinical hours at a community site. The pathways differ in who they serve, how the schedule runs, and what they add on top.
Core Upstream CHW
Adults 18 or older with a high school diploma or equivalent (or completing one before certification) who want to become community health workers, including partner staff and career changers.
See this pathwayViolence Interrupter and Credible Messenger CHW
Violence interrupters, outreach workers and credible messengers, 18 or older, who pass the readiness gates.
See this pathwayJunior CHW (high school)
HPAC students in grades 10 to 12 with a signed parent or guardian consent form. Students finish the full program in high school and apply for the Ohio certificate once they are 18 and hold a diploma.
See this pathwayWorking CHW Bridge
People already doing CHW work (outreach workers, navigators, peer, parish and lay health workers) who want the Ohio certificate and a career ladder.
See this pathwayCollege Health Professions CHW
College students 18 or older on a pre-health or health professions path, including HPAC alumni and students in public health, nursing, social work and allied health.
See this pathwayOnline lessons, live sessions, hands-on labs, real practice
Online, at your pace
- Each module: pre-test, lessons, a short video, study sheet, live session, activity, post-test
- Lessons run 15 to 30 minutes, written in plain language
- A weekly live session with your cohort for discussion and role play
- The learning system records time and attendance as clock hours
In person, with people
- Skills labs for vital signs, CPR and first aid, and a simulated home visit
- A registered nurse teaches and signs off every nursing skill
- 130 practicum hours at a community site with a named supervisor
- Your IDEAS community project, shared with the people it serves
Five courses, 55 modules
Each course has its own color, used on every slide deck, handout, and lesson page. Learners and faculty open the modules in the learning portal.
Foundations: Role, Ethics and the Upstream Lens
24 classroom hoursYou will be able to
- Describe CHW roles and Ohio scope of practice
- Apply ethics, boundaries and confidentiality
- Explain the social and political determinants of health
- Map community assets
- Plan an IDEAS project
Communication, Advocacy and Community Resources
24 classroom hoursYou will be able to
- Interview and listen well
- Communicate in writing and by phone with providers
- Facilitate groups
- Make and track referrals
- Recognize and report abuse, neglect, family violence and trafficking
- Refer for mental health and addiction
7 modules
- 102.1 Cultural Humility and Bias
- 102.2 Listening, Interviewing and Motivational Interviewing
- 102.3 Writing and Calling: Communicating with Providers
- 102.4 Teaching Groups and Facilitating Support Groups
- 102.5 Navigating Resources and Benefits
- 102.6 Safety in Families: Abuse, Neglect and Crisis
- 102.7 Advocacy and the Interdisciplinary Team
Health Across the Lifespan
42 classroom · 10 lab hoursYou will be able to
- Use basic anatomy and medical terms
- Take accurate vital signs
- Give CPR
- Teach healthy living
- Recognize warning signs from pregnancy through old age and report them
14 modules
- 103.1 Body Basics: Anatomy, Physiology and Medical Terms
- 103.2 Vital Signs and Changes in Health Status
- 103.3 CPR and First Aid Skills
- 103.4 Hypertension, Heart Disease and Stroke
- 103.5 Diabetes, Kidneys, Cancer Screening, Lungs and Asthma
- 103.6 Healthy Living I: Healthy Eating and Food Access
- 103.7 Healthy Living II: Physical Activity, Sleep and Stress
- 103.8 Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs; Oral Health
- 103.9 Childbearing Years and Pregnancy
- 103.10 Newborns, Infants and Young Children
- 103.11 Adolescents
- 103.12 Adults and Seniors
- 103.13 Special Needs Populations
- 103.14 Safety and Injury Prevention Across the Lifespan
Service Skills, Case Management and Documentation
20 classroom · 2 lab hoursYou will be able to
- Complete intake and SDOH screening
- Build a wellness plan
- Document for supervisor review
- Run a safe home visit
- Use office and digital tools
Community Practicum
130 clinical hoursYou will be able to
- Perform CHW tasks with real clients and groups across the lifespan in a community setting
- Complete the competency checklist
- Complete an IDEAS project
1 module
Specialty courses for Pathway B: violence interruption and credible messenger work
Added to the core for violence interrupters, outreach workers, and credible messengers. 96 hours across six courses, built from the eleven violence-interruption competency domains (F1 to F11), plus 480 supervised field hours.
Violence as a Public Health Problem
16 hours · domains F1, F2Detection, Mediation and De-escalation
24 hours · domains F3Credible Messenger Mentoring and Behavior Change
16 hours · domains F4Trauma, Healing and Worker Wellness
16 hours · domains F5, F6Case Management, Systems and Role Clarity
12 hours · domains F7, F8Data, Digital Interruption and Professionalism
12 hours · domains F9, F10, F11Whose work this is. The Ten Commandments of Violence Interruption belong to LaRon Douglas Sr. and the Renounce Denounce Gang Intervention Program (RDGIP). Where the program uses them, RDGIP teaches them under a written license in a restricted area of the learning portal. The Composite Risk System and the conflict mapping method belong to Dr. Gina Weisblat; learners are taught how to read and use risk tiers and conflict maps, never the formulas behind them. The digital violence interrupter approach was created by LaRon Douglas and is credited to him.
Earning the Ohio CHW certificate
The Ohio Board of Nursing certifies community health workers. Here is the path, with the rule behind each step.
Finish the program
All courses, labs, the practicum, and the competency checklist. We send the Board written notice that you completed it.
Apply to the Board
Submit the application and the $35 fee, and request a BCI criminal records check. OAC 4723-26-02
Finish within a year
Complete the application within one year of the Board receiving it, or it is void and the fee is lost.
Renew every two years
15 hours of continuing education, including 1 hour on Board law and rules and 1 hour on professional boundaries. OAC 4723-26-05
Already doing CHW work?
Ohio offers two routes around the training program: work in a CHW role before February 1, 2005, or certification by endorsement from another state. Everyone else completes the bridge program. See Pathway D.
Have a record?
Ohio law limits which past convictions can stop a certificate, and many stop counting after five years. Ask us privately before you decide not to apply. ORC 9.79
Still in high school?
The Junior Community Health Worker program runs through HPAC in grades 10 to 12 and ends in a Junior CHW certificate. Apply for the Ohio certificate at 18 with your diploma. The Ohio CHW credential is on the state's industry-recognized credential list for health. See Pathway C.
Resource Directory
What services exist in which neighborhoods: food, housing, utilities, legal help, jobs and health by ZIP code and need, plus crisis lines, free assessments, civic information, funding and a nonprofit toolkit. The same directory community health workers use in the field.
Read the program before you join it
These are the documents the program runs on. Word files open in Word, Pages, or Google Docs.
Student Handbook
Welcome, pathways, how the online classroom works, labs, practicum, expectations.
Program Philosophy and Outcomes
Why we train upstream, program and course outcomes, teaching strategies, evaluation methods.
Curriculum Plan and Content Chart
Every module mapped to the Ohio standard curriculum items. PDF also available.
Core Competency Checklist
The 32 competencies every graduate shows, with RN sign-off on nursing tasks. PDF also available.
Documents for partner sites, faculty, and the advisory committee
Organization Chart and Faculty List
Program administrator, RN instructor, faculty, advisory committee.
Board Application Checklist
What the Ohio Board of Nursing application requires and what is still open.
You are joining a long line of people who have helped their neighbors be healthy. We honor that history, l'dor v'dor, from generation to generation, and we do this work together.
The rules this program is built on
- OAC 4723-26-13, Standard curriculum for CHW training programs (effective February 1, 2025)
- OAC 4723-26-12, Standards for CHW training programs (effective February 1, 2025)
- OAC 4723-26-02, CHW certification
- OAC 4723-26-03, Certification by endorsement
- OAC 4723-26-05, Continuing education
- ORC 4723.84, CHW certificate qualifications
- ORC 9.79, Licensing and criminal records
- C3 Project, CHW roles and competencies