Healthy Homes Workforce Development

Project Funder: W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Project Contact: Carol Kawecki, ckawecki@nchh.org

Project Description: Can small grants help programs substantially increase the number of workers trained in healthy homes issues? Can this lead to more fundamental changes in policy, partnerships, or program sustainability? What lessons can we learn?

With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NCHH sponsored mini-grant competitions in 2017 and 2018 to expand the range of models and best practices for building and sustaining the healthy homes workforce. We defined the “healthy homes workforce” in broad terms: individuals who provided education, repairs, referrals, or policy support to assure homes were free of environmental health hazards that trigger adverse health outcomes. Eligible applicants included governments, educational institutions, public housing, nonprofit, and tribal communities.

We awarded grants of $5,000 to $7,500 each to organizations in California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. Typically, grantees had five to six months to complete their proposed activities. We chose projects that built new partnerships, engaged new providers of healthy homes services, and offered innovative strategies to deliver culturally-sensitive training. New workforce participants included community health workers (CHWs), community paramedics, home assessors, energy auditors, pest management professionals (PMP), at-risk young adults, and others who engage in home visits for training. Grantees’ activities included coalition-building meetings, informational workshops; training; translation of materials to support home visits for a diverse client base; commitments to integrate CHWs or other trained healthy homes professionals into services provided through other programs; and, activities to inform or support broader systems change.

Through a cumulative award of $95,000, the 13 grantees:

  • Trained 444 staff at 29 training events, with CHWs comprising more than half of those trained;
  • Reached more than 1,700 individuals through community events;
  • Engaged 21 new partner organizations in healthy homes activities;
  • Began integration of healthy homes services into the practices of 17 organizations, including six commitments or memoranda of understanding; and
  • Produced three publications and certifications to disseminate practices nationally.

They also shared lessons for recruitment and delivery of training, building partnerships, and increasing the sustainability of their efforts after this seed funding.

Read the full report here.

Resources

Publications:

NCHH published a pair of technical studies with the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and 2017 grantees Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition (CALC), available below:

In May 2019, NCHH published a summary report about this initiative, the grantees’ projects, and the lessons learned for the future:

Grantee activities:

Learn about the grantees’ individual workforce development mini-grant projects:

Project news:

NCHH published the following news announcements about the project:

Funding opportunity resources: