State alliance founder talks certification, funding needs for the field.

Community health workers have seen an influx of attention and funding as a result of the COVD-19 pandemic, but Barbara Clinton has seen their value from the start.

Trained as a social worker, Clinton started her career in community health work in the 1980s with a focus on rural health care and maternal and infant health. She served as the director of Vanderbilt Center for Health Services for more than 30 years and was the first director of the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker Program, which is now a program of the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University.

“That program uses well-trained community women to help other low-income women have a healthy birth and get their kids off to a good start,” she said. “It’s been incredibly successful.”

As one of the founders of Tennessee Community Health Worker Association, Clinton sat down with the Post to talk about the future of the organization and how she’s seen the field change over the years.