MiCHWA participants include CHWs, organizational partners, and other CHW supporters who make up a governance structure including a management team, steering committee, four working groups, and an evaluation advisory board in coordination with the University of Michigan Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group. MiCHWA’s working groups are the Michigan CHW Network, Communications, Education & Workforce, and Policy & Finance.
MiCHWA Guiding Principles
KEY PRINCIPLES to Implementing the Work of the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MiCHWA)
- CHWs provide active leadership at all levels of MiCHWA including its steering committee and its working groups.
- MiCHWA supports the professional and career development of CHWs.
- MiCHWA identifies and builds on strengths, resources, and relationships that exist within the state to address mission and goals of the organization including skills, assets of individuals, networks of relationships, data collection, untraditional partnerships, etc.
- MiCHWA builds and integrates knowledge and action that results in social change that benefits all partners and addresses the concerns of Michigan communities.
- MiCHWA facilitates the reciprocal transfer of knowledge, skills, capacity, and power. MiCHWA values members’ knowledge with an emphasis on sharing information, resources, and support among members of the Alliance. MiCHWA communicates in ways that are understandable and respectful.
- MiCHWA disseminates findings according to established MiCHWA dissemination guidelines and ensures ongoing feedback to inform action.
- All members of the MiCHWA Steering Committee participate as equal members and share responsibility for all phases of the Alliance’s efforts to sustain CHWs, e.g. identifying relevant policy, sustainability and other critical issues, developing and implementing goals and objectives to address issues, disseminating outcomes of our efforts, and establishing mechanisms for the sustainability of the Alliance.