Transforming Lives, Building Community
Welcome to our latest newsletter, where we shine a spotlight on the incredible impact of CAI’s Community Health Worker Training Certificate and Apprenticeship Program (CHWTP).
In an ever-evolving healthcare landscape, Community Health Workers serve as vital bridges, connecting individuals with the resources and support they need to thrive.
This edition features the inspiring voices of our graduates, showcases the remarkable diversity within our cohorts, and invites you to join us in championing this essential work. Prepare to be moved by stories of dedication, transformation, and profound community impact.
Dear Friends and Community,
We are thrilled to share an inspiring perspective on the profound impact of CAI’s Community Health Worker Training Certificate and Apprenticeship Program, as articulated by one of its recent graduates, Denise Felix. Her words beautifully capture the essence of what makes this program a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change.
Denise, a newly certified Community Health Worker from the Summer 2025 cohort, spoke passionately about her journey, emphasizing that the CAI program offers far more than just professional skills:
“In what university in the world could you learn the art of being an advocate, one who walks alongside our communities, helping individuals navigate the often complex and challenging waters of health care, housing, risk reduction, and mental wellness?”
For Denise and her peers, the program was a place to gain not only knowledge but also compassion – nurturing personal growth, spirit, and crucial life skills. It’s a community built on unwavering support, where “…supportive peers, dedicated trainers, guidance supervisors, and coaches walk alongside us every step of the way.”
She expressed deep gratitude for the program’s thoughtful supports—stipends, laptops, metro cards, and even something as simple as coffee and tea—all reminders that participants were “…being invested in, nurtured, and believed in.”
Graduates emerge with invaluable tools such as Motivational Interviewing, the spirit of PACE (Partnership, Acceptance, Compassion, and Empowerment), and the feeling thermometer—skills that enable them to respond to challenges with clarity and compassion by acknowledging that helping others starts with helping and knowing themselves better.
“The journey has been more than a training program. It has been a reminder that transformation is always possible when knowledge and compassion come together.”
Watch Denise’s full speech here
About the Community Health Worker Training Certificate & Apprenticeship Program (CHWTP)
New York’s most underserved communities continue to face deep and persistent barriers to care, barriers that exacerbate preventable inequities year after year.
CAI’s CHWTP exists to equip CHW graduates with the skills and tools they need to bridge those barriers and help eliminate health disparities. The program and its comprehensive curriculum are approved by the NYS Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Education (DOE), and supported by HRSA, preparing individuals to become the trusted connectors our healthcare system urgently needs.
Because CAI is not affiliated with a college, CHWTP is uniquely accessible to people who have historically been shut out of career pathways due to limited education or unstable work experience. Many trainees come to us having faced homelessness, justice involvement, trauma, substance use, and/or long-term job instability. Many carry the belief that they do not deserve a chance to build a stable career.
But their outcomes tell a different story. Of the 153 individuals who have completed the CHWTP, 88 are now employed—clear evidence of the program’s power to transform lives through access to meaningful work. CHWTP demonstrates that these lived experiences are not obstacles, they are assets. They become the foundation for stable careers, renewed confidence, and professional purpose, while cultivating empathy, resilience, and cultural humility that strengthen the communities our graduates serve and call home.
A Workforce Rooted in Community
Our program is powered by partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Harm Reduction Programs, and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).
These partners:
- Identify prospective trainees directly from communities they serve
- Provide experiential learning and mentorship
- Co-sponsor Registered Apprenticeships
This collaborative model ensures that trainees develop skills in environments where lived experience is valued as expertise.
See our full list of our partner organizations
Program Reach and Outcomes
Our CHWTP cohorts reflect the communities they serve – multilingual, multigenerational, and rooted in lived experience. Participants bring insights from their journeys, creating a workforce equipped to build trust, dismantle barriers, and support individuals navigating complex systems.
To date, CHWTP has had:
- 153 graduates, including 55 incumbent CHWs who completed advanced upskilling.
Program data also reveal incredible diversity among our participants, including the following:
- 67% of CHWTP trainees entered with only a high school diploma or GED
- Ages 19 to 77 are represented in our cohorts
- 66% of participants identify as Black or African American and 27% as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
- 6% speak at least one language beyond English
- 20 participants were justice-involved; 27 lived in supportive housing; 16 lived in shelters; 5 were housing insecure
This program does more than prepare people for jobs, it builds identity, purpose, and self-empowerment.
A Turning Point for Individuals and Communities
CHWTP does more than create workforce opportunities. It fosters belonging, self-efficacy, and a renewed belief in what is possible. Many trainees arrive having never held a professional role or having been told, implicitly or explicitly, that they were not capable of succeeding in one. The program replaces that false narrative with a new one:
You are needed. You are capable. Your lived experience is a strength.
For many trainees, CHWTP becomes a defining turning point. One graduate shared:
“All of you gave me my power and strength back, something I did not even realize I had lost. I found myself again, and this time I refuse to lose myself.”
Another trainee reflected: “I am leaving here already having a position offered to me… I’m going to be gainfully employed… I’m going to be able to go back to school… I’m going to be able to do so many things because of this program.”
These stories echo across cohorts. CHWTP restores hope, builds confidence, and opens doors that had long felt closed.
This internal transformation strengthens the healthcare system itself. Community Health Workers extend the reach of providers, address social determinants of health, build trusted relationships, and help people overcome barriers that traditional systems have long failed to resolve.
A workforce powered by empathy, resilience, and lived experience is not only capable of meeting community needs, it changes the trajectory of entire neighborhoods.
Igniting Change: The Enduring Impact of Our Community Health Workers
The CHW role changes systems from the inside out.
Graduates expand access to culturally competent care, foster trust, and help people navigate services with dignity. Their work strengthens organizations, improves outcomes, and builds healthier, more resilient communities.
Their journeys remind us that this work isn’t simply employment.
It is purpose. It is possibility. It is transformation.
Hear directly from our graduates and apprentices about how the CHWTP transformed their lives
Supporting Our Work
Recent funding cuts and shifts have put some of our most meaningful efforts at risk. Your support right now truly matters.
When you give, you help us continue our mission of using the transformative power of education to elevate CHWs—their work, their confidence, and the impact they have on their communities.
Please consider donating in support of our CHWTP
Your generosity strengthens the pathway for future graduates and fuels the hope, opportunity, and resilience they bring back to the neighborhoods they serve. We are profoundly grateful for every contribution and for standing with us in this work.
In Appreciation of Our Community
CHWTP thrives because of the people who believe in its purpose – staff, partners, graduates, and supporters who show up with heart, vision, and commitment.
Together, you turn possibility into progress. You help open doors that once felt out of reach and light pathways to meaningful careers and stronger, healthier communities.
Thank you for being part of this collective movement to uplift, inspire, and transform lives across New York City.