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 Be the Change -- Connecticut is a statewide initiative that utilizes a Community Health Worker model to address social determinants of health associated with an incidence of Adverse Childhood experiences (ACEs) in Connecticut’s racial/ethnic minority populations and communities located in Opportunity Zones, including Native American tribes.

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.

reated by the Connecticut AHEC Network, the Youth Health Service Corps (YHSC) is a health careers recruitment program that inspires diverse high school students to fulfill their dreams of becoming health care professionals through engagement in 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 gave them opportunities to learn and gain awareness about oral health issues. In addition, we provided activities for prevention and make resources available so that they can share 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.