Our Initiatives · Workforce Development
We train the people who keep communities healthy.
Prism trains, credentials, and launches community health workers and doulas across Illinois, then stands behind them with curriculum, supervision, and a place on real care teams.
What the Program Provides
Everything a health worker needs to launch, and to last.
Practical coursework taught alongside working clinicians, built around real community visits, not just a classroom.
We guide every worker through state credentialing, step by step, the same way we've done for our doula workforce.
Up-to-date course material from established, vetted health education sources, never improvised.
Supervision, refresher training, and a team to call. Nobody graduates into the deep end alone.
Trained workers join our mobile clinics and community events, working beside doctors, nurses, and doulas.
Workers train where they live and serve the people they know. The community keeps the skills, and the trust.
Who It's For
Three doors into the same program.
Community organizations & churches
Build a health team inside the organization people already trust. We train your members, credential them, and back them up, and your community keeps the benefit.
People with health backgrounds
CNAs, medical assistants, retired nurses, birth workers, and natural caregivers: turn your experience into a credentialed community health career.
Health departments & agencies
Need a credentialed community health workforce for a program? We recruit, train, and manage teams that are ready to work, statewide.
Proven With Doulas
We've already done this, with the hardest job in the field.
Prism delivers doula services through Cook County Health at Stroger Hospital, the only around-the-clock doula team in Illinois.
Prism Healthyears serving Illinois communities, from city blocks to rural counties.
Prism Healthhealthcare workers (doctors, nurses, doulas, and community health workers) deployed through our programs.
Prism HealthOur doula program is the model: we recruited from the community, trained and credentialed each doula, and built the supervision and hospital integration that keeps them practicing. Today, a large share of Illinois's credentialed doulas came through Prism training. The community health worker program runs on the same playbook: recruit locally, train thoroughly, credential properly, and never leave a worker unsupported.
The Prism field team
How It Works
From first conversation to first clinic.
Talk with us
Tell us about yourself or your organization. We'll map the right path together, with no forms to fight through.
Train and get credentialed
Complete the coursework and hands-on training, and we'll walk you through state credentialing step by step.
Launch in your community
Join real care teams at clinics and events where you live, with supervision, refreshers, and support that doesn't end at graduation.
What It Can Look Like
A church builds its own health team
A congregation has three members with healthcare experience: a retired nurse, a CNA, and a member who has cared for family for years. They join our training program together.
A few months later, the church hosts its first health event with Prism. Our doctors and nurses bring the clinic; their newly credentialed community health workers greet neighbors by name, take blood pressures, and follow up in the weeks after. The skills stay in the community long after our vans drive away.
Common Questions
What people ask us.
What is a community health worker?
A trained, credentialed health worker who serves the community they live in. They help neighbors get checkups, manage blood pressure and diabetes, find doctors, and stay on track between visits. They're the bridge between everyday life and the medical system.
Do I need a medical license to join?
No. A health background helps, and many of our trainees are CNAs, medical assistants, or experienced caregivers, but the program is built to train you. If you're the person your community already turns to, talk to us.
Does my organization need to be a health provider?
No. Churches, community organizations, and service groups partner with us all the time. You bring people and trust; we bring training, credentialing, and clinical teams.
What does the training cost?
It depends on the program and how it's funded. Reach out and we'll walk you through what's available for your situation.
How is this connected to your doula program?
Same team, same model. We built Illinois's only 24/7 hospital doula workforce by recruiting, training, credentialing, and supporting doulas from the community. Community health worker training follows that proven playbook.
Ready to build health where you live?
Whether you're one person with a calling or an organization with a mission, start the conversation.