PRESS RELEASE
Contact: 281-489-1111
DML Administrator
DML Launches its “COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM”
October 14, 2022, Houston, Texas. On June 30, 2022, Dia de la Mujer Latina, Inc. (DML), a Latina Community-Based Organizations, received the Dept of Labor’s approval as an Apprenticeship Program for Community Health Workers. This designation solidifies the DML’s commitment to expand the role of Promotores & Community Health Workers (Promotoras/CHWs) to address misinformation, miscommunication, and mistrust, especially within our Black and Brown communities. Funding for this program was secured by private and public donations.
As part of DML’s 25th anniversary and Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, DML is following up on many issues raised by our Promotoras/CHWs during the April 8th Conference, where the U.S Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, personally acknowledged their dedicated time, service, and commitment to community engagement, especially throughout the pandemic. Sadly, they are not recognized efficaciously in terms of funding, equitable compensation, and employment/career opportunities. DML and the Intercultural Center for Health Research, and Wellness, Inc., (ICHRW) created several key programs, increasing the roles and responsibilities for P/CHWs, as trusted members of our community by using key core competency skills to better prepare them to promote accessible, affordable, and accountable health and wellness in our underserved and underrepresented populations, in an effort, to address the social, economic, physical factors that contribute to health inequities.
As an approved TX State Sponsored Training Program since 2009, and with over 5,800 P/CHWs, and 267 instructors, in Texas alone, DML launched its 29th Generation of P/CHWs on September 8th, 2022, beginning with a comprehensive series of training programs that will provide them with real world experiences, expand their skillset and be mentored by several of DML’s certified instructors.
Leveraging their cultural and linguistic skills to serve communities across the state of Texas, these Promotoras/CHWs, trained and certified, are well-prepared to serve as Vaccination Community Navigators, a bilingual program, in partnership with Vaccinate Your Family. Additionally, training as Behavioral Community Navigators, Clinical Trial Community Navigators, and Telehealth Community Navigators Certifications will increase their career options. “Our goal is for the proper recognition of this incredible workforce to be integrated into all aspects of health and wellness,” stated Venus Ginés, President/Founder of DML.