Recently, Serve Virginia hosted Delegate Betsy Carr (78^th district), Dr. Elaine Perry, Director of the Richmond Henrico Health District, and Caprichia Spellman, Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building, for an AmeriCorps site visit with RVA Health Corps at the Richmond Henrico Health District. Joining our team for the visit were RVA Health Corps program staff, Paul Manning and Toni Shepard, community health workers from Health District Resource Centers, and AmeriCorps members Indyia Trent, Tiffany Williams, and T'aja Wright.

 

At RVA Health Corps, eight AmeriCorps members are serving with the Richmond Henrico Health District at their Resource Centers. The program’s focus is on recruiting and supporting AmeriCorps members from historically marginalized and under-resourced communities, providing them with training, building their confidence, and supporting them in getting certified as Community Health Workers (CHWs) in order to serve their communities and address local health inequities going forward. AmeriCorps members serve under certified CHWs, helping expand and enhance the services the Resource Center provides while also gaining experience they can use when they apply for their own CHW certification.

 

During this recent visit, members discussed the value they find in hands-on learning and being able to build a network while testing out different careers in public health. Of the three members we spoke with during this visit, one plans to become a CHW, one hopes to go into a public health career, and one anticipates applying what she's learned to a career in child care. They all agreed that their experiences in RVA Health Corps have helped them learn the importance of trust and relationships, and that seeing that modeled by their site supervisor has been critical.

 

The Community Health Workers also shared how the AmeriCorps members are helping to reach more people in the community and building trust more broadly, enabling community members to more readily access needed services and resources. The work they do spans all types of social determinants of health, including activities like diaper drives to support moms and babies, helping connect people to life-saving resources like Narcan, and sharing about services that people can access to support their mental and physical health. By continuing to expand the accessibility of these resources and services through the RVA Health Corps members, a greater number of Richmond community members will be positively impacted in the long run.