CVCH earns national award for farmworker outreach program

WENATCHEE — A program designed to meet agricultural workers where they are, in the fields, in schools and in the community, has earned national recognition for Columbia Valley Community Health.

CVCH recently received a Promising Practice Award from the National Center for Farmworker Health, honoring its efforts to expand access to care for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers across the Columbia Valley.

The award highlights programs that address some of the most persistent barriers to care, including transportation challenges, long and irregular work hours, language differences and limited availability of services. CVCH’s approach focuses on reducing those barriers through outreach that is both flexible and community-centered.

Clinic Manager Dulce Negrete and Community Outreach and Events Coordinator Tracy Styles represented CVCH at a national convening in New Orleans, where they accepted the award and shared the organization’s outreach model with peers from across the country.

Styles presented a poster outlining CVCH’s strategies for connecting agricultural workers with care, while Negrete delivered a presentation detailing broader outreach efforts that also extend to unhoused individuals and school-based communities. Both emphasized a consistent focus on migrant and seasonal agricultural workers as a core part of the organization’s mission.

The exchange offered more than recognition. It also created space for collaboration, with CVCH staff participating in sessions on culturally responsive care, outreach strategies and building trust with underserved populations. Those conversations are expected to inform future efforts locally.

Along with the award, CVCH received $1,500 in funding to support continued outreach work in the region.

The recognition reflects the work of outreach teams, providers and community partners who have focused on making care more accessible and responsive to the needs of the valley’s agricultural workforce, a population that often faces structural barriers to traditional health care access.

CVCH leaders say the organization plans to build on that work, continuing to expand services for agricultural workers and other underserved groups throughout Chelan and Douglas counties.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media