Southwestern AHEC is a grantee of the National AHEC Organization’s (NAO) a five-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to provide education to health professionals regarding the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

The Immunization Action Plan (IAP) program works to increase immunization levels among children aged zero to two years in the Bridgeport community, as directed by the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH). 

Southwestern AHEC partnered with the State of Connecticut and the CHW Advisory Committee to develop a policy framework that includes a CHW definition, scope of practice, skill requirements, certification process, and options for sustainable financing. Southwestern AHEC is one of the approved training vendors in the State to offer the 90-hour CHW Core Competencies Training.

Created by the Connecticut AHEC Network, the Youth Health Service Corps (YHSC) is a health careers recruitment program that inspires high school students to fulfill their dreams of becoming health care professionals through meaningful service-learning experiences to address community health issues. 

The purpose of the Inter-Professional Education / Community Based Education and Training program is to cultivate an interdisciplinary environment in which health professions students from various disciplines to allow students to have experiences as well as build their skills with regards to interacting and caring for individuals as part of a team-based approach to patient care.

The Dental Outreach to Connecticut Communities Program (DOCCP) trained CHWs and provided opportunities to learn about oral health issues. In addition, activities are provided for prevention and resources are made available so they can share them with their clients.

This program serves to educate community health workers through training on introductory knowledge about substance use disorder (SUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD), as well as increase the capacity for CHWs to be able to provide resources for patient access and engagement for treatment.