envision history
In the spring of 2021 a group of longterm Community Health Workers (CHWs) and CHW allies gathered to respond to a Notice Of Funding Opportunity (grant) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), specifically the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).
The CCR-2109 grant (Community Health Workers for COVID Response and Resilient Communities) was a 3-year, $300-$350 million initiative funded by Congress to train and employ CHWs to manage COVID-19 spread and build resilience in disproportionately affected communities.
Sherri Ohly, Mary Pesik, Julie Smithwick, and Ashley Wennerstrom produced a partnership agreement proposal for the formation of a national CHW training and Technical Assistance center. John Burton was invited to assist with design and branding.
In August of 2021 this group was among the 67 recipients who were awarded funding and it was then that envision officially began.
the partnership
The initial partnership that formed envision was between the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services, University of Wisconsin Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH), Louisiana State University LSU Health, and the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health - Center for Community Health Alignment (CCHA).
the first three years (Sept. 2021 - Aug. 2024)
envision took the first few months to staff up and prepare their work plan for the three year period of the CCR-2109 grant. During those first three years envision held over 30 webinars, convened Communities of Practice (CoP), Communities of Transformation (CoT), addressed Technical Assistance requests, and held both virtual and in-person trainings.
In 2024 Lisa Renee Holderby-Fox became envision’s Executive Director
Other highlights were the development of this website, the CHW curated Resource Library, the development and staging of the myenvision social platform, and the convening of 500 representatives of 2109 recipients at the CHW Sustainability Summit in Spokane, Washington in April 2024.
View detailed data results from these first three years on our impact page.
year four (Sept. 2024 - Aug. 2025)
At the end of the CCR-2109 grant cycle, envision received a one year extension to continue the work already in-progress while also developing new CHW resources. Highlights from this year included the first part of the CHW Financial Sustainability Toolkit (CHW FST) and the production of the multi-team effort behind the CHW Learning Series.
year five (Sept. 2025 - Aug. 2026)
As we are now well into year five we can tell you that we’re already looking to year six while so far having held three webinars, delivered the fully complete and redesigned CHW Financial Sustainability Toolkit (CHW FST) and supported the NY CHW Policy Partnership Initiative.
Stay tuned and stay engaged with us.
