Congratulations to CCHW Wiston Delgado and the members of RI’s Latinx CHW Support Group! There aren’t enough emojis to show how excited we are!
This group was started two years ago with seed money from RIDOH’s CDC grant and was supported by CHWARI and our former Bilingual Program Coordinator, Lina Roman. It was created it to give Spanish speaking CHWs a much needed place to prevent compassion fatigue and share resources in their native language. This fall, when the original funding source expired, Wiston Delgado, CCHW, applied for the funding necessary to keep the group going… and the Rhode Island Foundation’s Juanita Sánchez Community Fund said yes!
Wiston is excited to share, “I never tried anything like this before, but as a CHW, the thing we do is make connections. I read about the funding source for Rhode Island Latinos in a newsletter. Then I asked the director of a non-profit I knew if they would sponsor my application. They helped me do it. When the letter came last week I couldn’t believe it!” A big shout out the Educational Center for Arts & Science (Teatro ECAS) for agreeing to be a non-profit partner with Wiston to make the group eligible for the grant!
Tonya Glantz, of Rhode Island College’s Institute for Eductation in Healthcare and CHWARI, shared, “IEH and CHWARI applaud the continued success of the Latinx support group. Their dedication to upholding the voices of this group is inspiring and is creating change within the field of community health work.”
The support group’s next meeting will be their in-person holiday gathering on 12/20 from 3pm-5pm. (We originally had it at the wrong time!). Space is limited but if you would like to attend, you can email Wiston.
They will resume their regular zoom schedule on January 14th at noon. In addition to their meetings they have a very active WhatsApp chat for members to share resources and receive support daily.
Join them to get the support you need to do the hard work you do!!!!