(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The City Colleges of Chicago is using a more than $2 million federal grant to train community workers who will help address the growing opioid crisis on the South and West sides.
Malcolm X College is helping cultivate some 200 community health workers who will go into hard-hit neighborhoods.
Elizabeth Gmitter, director of College Initiatives and Projects, said the continuing opioid crisis has been overshadowed by the pandemic for the last year and a half.
The grant from the Health Resources and Management Administration provides free tuition, stipends and other help for people with life experience in the communities to become certified community health workers.
These jobs providing care and services to children and families affected by the opioid crisis can lead to other jobs in health care, Gmitter said.
For now, this program is slated to run four years.
Go to ccc.edu/opioid for more information.
Related
