RIPIN receives workforce development grant from CVS Health Foundation Hometown Fund

RIPIN is excited to announce that we have received a grant from the CVS Health Foundation Hometown Fund to support our efforts to enhance workforce development for Community Health Workers (CHWs) who work with children with special needs and their families.

CHWs provide support proven to help patients access the care and services they need while lowering healthcare spending, yet no special training currently exists for CHWs who support the roughly 40,000 children in RI (1 in 5) with special needs and their families. These families navigate some of the most complex systems of support – from special education to Medicaid to SSI – and CHWs can make a big difference in outcomes.

By creating a recognized training program and specialty credential (“endorsement”) for CHWs working with children with special needs and their families, this project will build marketable and transferable credentials for CHWs, and also help vulnerable children thrive.

The CVS Health Foundation established the Hometown Fund as a way to give back to the communities they call home. It is a $2 million annual commitment to invest in nonprofits that are advancing health equity, addressing social determinants of health, and increasing access to workforce training and education in their home states of Rhode Island, Connecticut and neighboring Massachusetts. Learn more about the CVS Health Foundation Hometown Fund here.