CHW Network of Buffalo
Community Health Workers are OF and FROM the communities they serve. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve as a liaison between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.
What is a CHW?
"A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served — serving as a liaison between health/social services and the community."
— American Public Health Association
What do CHWs do?
CHWs build individual and community capacity through outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support and advocacy — turning lived experience into community power.
Common Questions about CHWs
- Cultural Mediation Among Individuals, Communities, and Health and Social Service Systems
- Providing Culturally Appropriate Health Education and Information
- Care Coordination, Case Management, and System Navigation
- Providing Coaching and Support
- Advocating for Individuals and Communities
- Building Individual and Community Capacity
- Providing Direct Service
- Implementing Individual and Community Assessments
- Conducting Outreach
- Participating in Evaluation and Research
- Community Health Worker
- Outreach Worker
- Service Coordinator
- Case Manager
- Community Educator
- Advocate
- Community Engagement Coordinator
- Patient Navigator
- Counselor
- Youth Coordinator
- Parent Facilitator
- Peer Educator
What is the impact of CHWs?
"One of my first clients was a teenage mother... I helped the mother get diapers, clothes, and a bassinet. She told me that I had given her something bigger than the 'stuff' — I had given her hope."— Nadia Pizzaro, Outreach Worker/Housing Coordinator, American Red Cross
"You made me feel like a human again for the first time in a long time."— John, Matt Urban Hope Center client
"The impact of parents and students creating a healthier school environment in our District cannot be underestimated."— Assunta Ventresca, Former Director of Health Related Services, BPS
School Health & Wellness Collaborative
For parents, students, school and District staff, and community and academic partners to work TOGETHER for a "Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child" approach; with a focus on parents and students as leaders and change agents.
Who We Serve
Parents, students, school and District staff, and community and academic partners — working together as leaders and change agents for healthier schools.
What We Do
- Parent and Student CHW Training and Support
- Collaborative meetings, events, and learning opportunities
- Research and advocacy related to policy, best practices and programming
Visit us on Facebook.
Latest News
Peace, Love & Power
Bringing together diverse practitioners, providers and caregivers to foster individual, family and community healing and growth.
Our Focus
- Self-care and burnout prevention for frontline organizations, leaders, workers, and caregivers
- Training, workshops and events to support trauma-informed, restorative and culturally responsive practices
Connect With Us
Join our community of practitioners and caregivers working toward collective healing and growth.
Visit us on Facebook.
Self-Care Resources
Freedom Schools Buffalo
An initiative of diverse frontline organizations and community educators providing youth and families with liberation education opportunities. A multiracial movement centering Black, Indigenous and People of Color individuals and communities.
Our Mission
To provide families and the community with culturally responsive opportunities for academic enrichment, intergenerational learning, civic engagement, social action, arts and culture, and health and wellness supports.
Our Framework
Drawing from Native American and Haudenosaunee culture, the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, and principles of "popular education" used in liberation movements around the world throughout the past century.
Freedom Schools Buffalo is not currently offering programming. Stay tuned for updates!
ANCHOR
ANCHOR (Assisting Needs and Community Health, Opportunity and Resiliency) emerged as a community rapid response effort to the COVID-19 and systemic racism pandemics; functioning as a bridge between systems, sectors, organizations, grassroots efforts and community members.
Who We Are
A community rapid response effort functioning as a bridge between systems, sectors, organizations, grassroots efforts and community members — addressing both urgent needs and root cause issues.
How We Work
We utilize a top-down/bottom-up, asset-based community development model to create collective action toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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April 2025 ANCHOR Reconvening Meeting
Parent & Youth CHWs
We connect public health and public education for healthy and safe families, schools, and communities. Since 2013, CoNECT has been training and deploying parent and student CHWs in Buffalo Public Schools and around the city — with a belief that those closest to the problems are closest to the solutions.
Training & Development
Each summer, BPS parents and high school students complete an intensive 4-day, 28-hour CHW core competencies training — building knowledge, skills, and relationships for community work.
Family & Public Advocacy
We believe "nothing about us without us is for us." Parent and youth CHWs accompany families through service navigation, school conferences, suspension hearings, and community change campaigns.
Learn more about the School Health and Wellness Collaborative
Service Learning
- Parents and students join School Wellness Teams in their schools
- Youth CHWs supported as mentors in partnership with International School #45
- Field trips — seasonal hikes at Tifft Nature Preserve, kayaking at Beaver Island, visits to the Underground Railroad Museum
- Outreach events, community cleanups, food giveaways, and more
Advocacy Highlights
- "Solutions not Suspensions" campaign — addressing high suspension rates in Buffalo Public Schools
- Working with BPS Food Service to implement salad bars, Farm to School program, and culturally responsive menu items