Social inequity is a significant problem facing public health, with some groups facing higher health risks and lower access to and quality of health care, leading to poorer health outcomes. These inequities arise from economic, social, and environmental factors and have contributed to a legacy of distrust in the healthcare system by certain groups. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that climate change can increase health risks in the general population, as well as intensify existing social inequalities. As a trusted bridge between community members and health services, as well as practiced advocates, CHWs have the potential to play a pivotal role in community-level climate change adaptation and mitigation through a health equity lens, particularly when it comes to both human and planetary health. What’s missing for many CHWs is the training in how to do so. The Climate Change Impacts Project (CCIP) team at the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MiCHWA) works to meet this need with a series of self-paced continuing education trainings for CHWs titled “Health Impacts of Climate Change” and “Health Equity and Climate Change.” This curriculum provides crucial education about how to help the most vulnerable community members adapt to climate impacts on health as part of MiCHWA’s larger foundational training. This presentation uses post-learning evaluation data from this curriculum to demonstrate the perceived value of the course’s information to CHWs. Using these first two courses as the groundwork, this presentation will detail CCIP’s vision of a robust CHW Climate Change and Health micro-credential, which provides training on various aspects of climate change and health and acknowledges this specialization for CHWs who complete it. Finally, this presentation will highlight the importance of customizing courses available in this micro-credential to suit different geographical areas.

TBA