Leticia Boughton Price, CHW, LCSW, empathetic, encouraging, and enlightening individual with over 30 years of working with youth, families, and at-risk populations. I am extremely interested in mental health in the Black community and look for ways to educate and advocate for people to take care of their mental health. One way I do this is through Mental Health First Aid. Currently, I am the Co-Executive Director of the Illinois Community Health Worker Association. I am responsible for sustaining and growing the first Community Health Worker (CHW) Association in Illinois. The goal of the Illinois CHW Association (ILCHWA) is to unite CHWs, CHW groups, stakeholders, and allies to provide peer-to-peer support for CHWs, establish one voice and advocate for policies around CHW issues/concerns, i.e., identity, training and development, financing/reimbursement, etc.
I am committed to supporting, sustaining and growing the CHW workforce in Illinois. In 2014, I co-chaired the first Illinois Community Health Worker Advisory Board that was established with the passing of Public Act 098-0796. Under my leadership, the board’s members and a broad array of more than 70 stakeholders developed a report of 25 recommendations organized under five major categories: core competencies and roles, training and certification, financing and reimbursement, workforce development, and awareness building. I continued to advance these recommendations that led to the passing of the Community Health Worker Certification and Reimbursement Act (Public Act 410 ILCS 67) in 2021. I am the co-founder of the Illinois Community Health Worker Association (ILCHWA), a 501c3 where I served as its President/CEO until 2024 when I became the Co-Executive Director. Outside of Illinois, I have also held leadership positions that include being the elected chair of the American Public Health Association CHW Section and the co-lead of a grief support group at the Apostolic Church of God-Chicago.
When Illinois Senator Richard Durbin presented me with the first ever CHW of the Year Award in June of 2014, he called me “a force of nature;” which motivates me to advocate for change that support the growth and sustainability of the CHW workforce in Illinois.