City College of San Francisco expands its Community Health Worker program

New certificates expand employment opportunities for students

SAN FRANCISCO – City College of San Francisco (CCSF) announced today that beginning 2019, it will offer two new certificates programs through its Community Health Worker (CHW) program: elder advocates and HIV & hepatitis navigation specialists. The CHW program trains and certifies students for employment in the public health, health care, and social services sectors. These two new certificates will be offered in addition to the current CHW program offerings, which include training to become a community health worker, re-entry specialist, and youth advocate specialist.  Most students earn their certificate within three semesters.

“I am so excited that the City College’s Community Health Worker Program has a new Elder Advocate certificate,” said Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director at the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS).  “At DAAS, we are constantly in search of skilled individuals with lived community experience to fill positions within our department and our community.”

Community health workers are in high demand at the local, state, and federal levels.  In San Francisco, health workers earn a median wage of $61,000 and provide a wide range of services that include health outreach and education, client-centered counseling and case management, and client and community-based advocacy.

“In my family, navigating health systems and managing one family member’s chronic condition was a major part of my life for two decades,” said Andrew Ciscel, CCSF student and staff for Community Health Worker Program.  “The College’s Community Health Worker Programs established professional boundaries to apply skills from my experience while building competencies for working as part of the multidisciplinary teams. The HIV & Hepatitis Navigation certificate classes have been especially helpful in supporting my communities today.”

Academic research shows that CHW programs are absolutely essential for fostering innovation in the field, and emphasizes the importance of quality training for CHW workers.  CCSF is proud to be leading the way in a field that not only provides a living wage for graduates, but also provides excellent CHW workers that care for the San Francisco Bay Area community.

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ABOUT CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO

For 83 years, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) has been the region’s premiere public, two-year community college. The college is now one of the first in the nation to offer free tuition, providing San Franciscans with the opportunity to access a quality college education and workforce training that leads to university transfer and good jobs. Since its founding in 1935, City College has evolved into a multicultural, multi-campus community college that is one of the largest in the country. CCSF offers more than 250 degrees and certificates and features an award-winning athletics program.  For more about City College of San Francisco, please visit https://www.ccsf.edu/.