Advocating for a California Association of Community Health Workers: Building a representative, culturally inclusive, professional peer coalition

“Think globally but act locally” is the mobilizing premise of the Community Health Workers (CHW) who in January 2011 founded the Community Health Worker Initiative of Sonoma County in California. Using core CHW competency skills we are building relationships in our community with frontline health workers, with many different job titles and diverse cultural back grounds, whose scope of practice falls within the APHA definition of a CHW. Attending regional and national conferences that support the professional development of CHWs, facilitated our learning about health policy advances made in other states, peer support models that are successfully supporting the professional role and scope of practice of the of the CHW throughout the USA. Learning from the national leaders in our field has expedited the process of organizational development of our own peer support network , building local leadership capacity, promoting cultural humility and inclusivity, advocating for lifelong learning, ongoing professional development and self advocacy. Our work is extremely challenging. If we are to be effective builders of healthy communities and advocates for our families, friends and neighbors, we must first build our own professional community at a local, regional state and national level to keep our hope and tenacity alive to motivate the work that still must be done to build a more equitable and just health care system in our country. While we are excited about the possibilities that the affordable health care act might bring; we share what can be done with passion, vision and commitment.