Joanne Calista, Ally  |  Massachusetts

My name is Joanne Calista and I am honored to run for a second term on the NACHW Board of Directors. As a NACHW Board member and current treasurer, I have worked closely with NACHW staff and board colleagues to strengthen our organization’s fiscal position, leadership structure, oversight, and sustainability to ensure NACHW is strong in service to our members and CHWs nationwide. 

To me, CHWs embody justice and equity AND have been at the core of all social justice movements. In my life, through both its privileges and struggles, the commitment to service, addressing inequities, and enhancing quality of life, have guided me. I have been honored to serve in direct service and policy capacities including working as a CHW with adolescents in mental health and as the Director of the Center for Health Impact for more than 20 years. As vice Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Certification of CHWs, I have advocated for the CHW Voice to be primary and work toward a credentialing process that supports and advances the recognition of the CHW workforce. Throughout my career, I have partnered with CHWs in hospital and community settings including HIV/AIDS, Healthcare for the Homeless, and re-entry from incarceration. 

With your vote, I am committed to continuing to strengthen your National Association, and to work to support the advancement of the CHW movement and workforce as a CHW Ally supporting CHW Leadership and Voice.

Elaine Johannes, Ally  |  Kansas

As a NACHW member, I see how the organization has become voice for CHWs and has built opportunities for the CHW workforce. However, I can also see how reimbursement challenges, various quality core and specialty training, federal immigration policy, prevalence of dual role CHWs, and the lack of opportunities for CHW advancement across states can present challenges that NACHW will need to address in the near future. I want to contribute my abilities to help address these challenges. My experience as a university faculty member, educator, and community health specialist equips me with skills that NACHW can benefit from. I also have years of experience in direct client services, and navigation of complex systems (e.g, health care, housing, social care services). The mash-up of university faculty member and rural elder care case manager experiences have led to me being results oriented but also prepared for the “unexpected surprise”. I’m prepared to contribute to the planful objectives of the NACHW strategic plan, but I’m also prepared to work should things don’t go as planned and an organizational pivot is necessary. In summary, my understanding of systems, and organizational development is an asset. Also an asset is my ability to engage quickly, pivot wisely and not bogged down when decisions are urgent. Should I be selected to join the NACHW board, It would be an honor to work on behalf of NACHW and its CHW membership.

Jessica Kimber, CHW  |  Wisconsin

I am Jessica Kimber, Community Health Worker from Wisconsin employed at the Department of Health Services in the Chronic Disease Prevention Program as a Community Health Specialist. It would be an honor to serve on the National Association of Community Health Workers board. I believe my experience in building a regional CHW Network between counties and the Wisconsin Association for Community Health Workers would be an asset to the National Association of Community Health Workers board. I also have a strong background in state and national event organizing, CHW integration best practices, awareness building marketing campaigns, workforce sustainability, advocacy, engaging and building relationships with key partners, and systems and policy work. The foundation of all the work I do is centered in CHW voice and leadership, supported by authentic allyship, and designed through a sustainability lens. My vision for NACHW is to build it back up, reinforce it’s foundation, and have a strategic plan for sustainability. I think this is the time for passion driven creativity to engage and build relationships with new partners who are outside of the box. I think this is an opportunity to see what resources are available and how they can be used to keep CHWs connected through the country.

Jay Kolbet-Clausell, CHW  |  Nevada

I became a Community Health Worker because I believe that the people closest to the pain are closest to the solution. That led me to roles expanding emergency shelters, directing the statewide CHW program, and teaching students how to become trusted messengers in their own communities. I want to join the NACHW Board because CHWs deserve national infrastructure as strong as their local impact. My vision for NACHW is an organization that advocates for CHWs while equipping them with strong connections, respectful funding level wins, and technology that works in the real world even in less-well-resourced places. I bring concrete skills: I’ve managed an $8.4M budget, built custom data systems, written state-approved curriculum, and secured policy reforms through coalition-building across party lines. I hope to contribute strategic and empowering sustainability sprints to modernize membership engagement for CHWs. Most of all, I want to serve the people who do this work every day because they showed up for their communities, and this board should show up for them.

Julie St. John, Ally  |  Texas

Hi all! My name is Julie St. John. I have had the opportunity to learn and work alongside CHWs for over twenty-five years. I am a Texas certified CHW Instructor; active in the APHA CHW Section; a founding board member of the Texas Association of Promotores/CHWs; on the leadership team of the National C3 Council); and served as a NACHW Board member from 2023-2026. I value and view CHWs as integral components of health and social service delivery systems as well as having a key role in public health research. My work focuses on developing community capacity through engaging CHWs/promotores as leaders. I desire to grow and strengthen the CHW workforce and assist CHWs in developing professionally and personally through providing technical and other types of support. My past experiences and current research will enable me to provide that support. My skills and abilities include: strategic planning; grant writing; research; program evaluation; policy development; and advocacy. I am detail-oriented, a facilitator, personable, organized, and a supporter of CHWs. I am a mom of nine and believe in the importance of family and building relationships. I am honored and thankful to be considered as a candidate for a returning board member. I hope to continue to contribute in meaningful and tangible ways should I be reelected. Thank you for your consideration for an additional term of board service. 

Stephanie Toney, CHW  |  Virginia

I am honored to be considered to serve NACHW and to stand with the CHW workforce that continues to transform public health. I see NACHW as a catalyst for what is possible when CHWs lead. My vision is that NACHW continues to strengthen its role as a national voice that not only advocates but builds pathways for CHWs to lead, earn, and sustain our work. We are shaping systems, not being added to them. I see NACHW helping move us from inclusion to ownership AND from programs to power. I am a Certified Community Health Worker and I am part of the workforce NACHW represents. My work has focused on building what many of us have been asking for: access to training, pathways to leadership, and systems that value lived experience. With CHWs, health systems, and public health partners, we move ideas into ACTION. What I will bring to NACHW is a builder’s mindset. I listen, I connect, and I move work FORWARD. I will contribute a focus on sustainability, leadership development, and models that allow CHWs to lead and thrive long term. I will also bring a commitment to ensuring NACHW continues to reflect the voices, realities, and leadership of CHWs across communities. I believe in where NACHW is going. I am ready to contribute, to build, and to help carry this work forward. Let’s gooooooo!

Ashley Wennerstrom, Ally  |  Louisiana

I am an Associate Professor at LSU Health in New Orleans, Louisiana. I have been privileged to work closely with CHWs for 20 years. My work has included partnering with CHWs to co-found a CHW professional association in Louisiana (the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network [LACHON)], co-develop and run a CHW core competency training program, advance CHW workforce policy, and co-lead numerous research and evaluation projects focused on supporting the priorities of CHWs. I am a proud founding board member of the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW). During my tenure as a board member, I co-chaired the organization’s policy committee. I also co-chaired of the policy committee for the CHW Section of the American Public Health Association for five years. I am running for the NACHW board again because I believe strongly in the organization’s mission to unite CHWs and promote health equity. CHWs deserve to be valued, respected, and well-compensated for the critical work they do to support our communities, and NACHW provides a platform to make sure CHW voices are heard. I bring to the board experience in fundraising, writing, research, evaluation, and policy development. Most importantly, I bring a deep commitment to partnering with CHWs and promoting CHW leadership. If elected, I would aim to help NACHW develop a long-term financial sustainability strategy and work to ensure that NACHW becomes a leader in developing policy to support the CHW workforce.