SAVANNAH, Ga. - GeorgiaChron -- (SAVANNAH, GA) Healthy Savannah and YMCA of Coastal Georgia are inviting community members, church and health ministry leaders, community service providers and others interested in health equity to consider joining its Community Health Advocate training program. An upcoming online training session is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7.

The training program is part of an effort funded by a supplemental grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to broaden initiatives of the current Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant, administered by Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. The goal of this initiative is to focus on COVID-19 and Flu vaccine access, awareness, and acceptance, particularly in Savannah's Black and Hispanic communities.

The Community Health Advocate training program has so far enabled 35 Chatham County residents to reach deep into their own communities to hear concerns, perspectives and experiences with COVID-19 and its vaccines. Their experiences are helping provide a more thorough understanding of current perceptions and offer feedback that could help shape public health interaction with people in priority communities.

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This is the third training class that the initiative has offered since the program launched last summer. Each class has followed an in-person listening session to hear about the experiences, perceptions and concerns related to access, awareness, and acceptance of the COVID vaccine. Past listening sessions have helped the COVID team identify people with an interest in sharing their stories and provide accurate and scientifically sound information about COVID and vaccines to people they know. The most recent session, held in June, focused on the next steps in engaging the community as the pandemic transitions to the endemic stage.

The next training session for the Community Health Advocate program will get underway on July 7, with attendees meeting virtually in small groups of about 10 each. In addition to a $500 stipend they'll receive for performing community outreach activities after the training, participants can sharpen leadership skills, learn about advocacy, and add to their resumes.

To apply for the Community Health Advocate Training program, or to learn more, please email Dr. Elsie Smalls at elsie@healthysavannah.org or call 843-323-9997.