The Oregon Community Health Workers Association (ORCHWA) is the statewide professional association for community health workers (CHWs).
ORCHWA was founded in November, 2011 to provide a unified voice to empower and advocate for CHWs in Oregon. ORCHWA is a membership organization and is led and directed by CHWs. Beyond unifying and strengthening the professional identity of Oregon CHWs, ORCHWA seeks to support CHWs to obtain additional training, provide important networking opportunities, and facilitate CHWs and CHW programs to collaborate with each other, and community, government, health, and educational institutions.
ORCHWA’s members play an active and visible role in educating public health and health system professionals about the value of CHWs as well as addressing relevant policy and sustainability issues including: training, certification, employment opportunities, etc.