"There's a Meeting in the Village" - A community based train-the-trainer program for CHW's who serve pregnant women of color

The Black Infant Mortality Reduction Resource Center (BIMRRC) - Northern NJ Maternal/Child Health Consortium is committed to reducing the rates of racial/ethnic perinatal health disparities. The BIMRR Center implements provider and consumer education, which includes educating Community Health Workers (CHWs). CHW's often resemble their clients in terms of lifestyle, language, race and ethnicity and are providers of culturally competent care. In order to enhance the skills of this often overlooked workforce, the BIMRR Center in partnership with the March of Dimes, developed “There's a Meeting in the Village” a community-based “train-the-trainer” program. This collaboration examined the inverse relationship between stress and pregnancy outcomes among women of color by recruiting CHW's to become communicators of vital health information. Over a six month period, twelve trainings were conducted throughout the state and close to 150 Community Health Workers participated. A training curriculum, developed by BIMRRC staff, was utilized to address multiple risk factors that contribute to adverse birth outcomes. Upon completion, each CHW was asked to share this information with 10 clients to reduce adverse birth outcomes and promote stress management and reduction techniques.

This training will provide an interactive learning experience which will highlight the components of the training curriculum, program outcomes and stress reduction techniques beneficial for pregnant women. Our hope is that this teaching tool becomes a standard training module for the 2000 Community Health Workers throughout the state.