El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center

El Sol transforms hearts, minds & actions through the leadership of our 150 community health workers.  Promotores de salud improve the health of communities across San Bernardino & Riverside counties. 

“The Promotor Philosophy”

The CHW model is a peer-to-peer approach in education, prevention, and early intervention for physical and mental health.  It is based on the recognition that the people best equipped to reach underserved communities are the very people from those communities. El Sol’s CHW are chosen from among community members who demonstrate leadership potential and, a desire to make a difference for their communities.

El Sol Programs in San Bernardino County are:  Inspire Multicultural Holistic Campus, Mental Health, Nutrition, Health Care Reform and the Community Engagement and Policy Initiative

El Sol Programs in Riverside County are: Mental Health, Diabetes, Home Visitation, Families Learning Together, Mamás y Bebés, Asthma and the Advanced Promotores program

Organizational Impact

In 2012, El Sol impacted 250,000 PARTICIPANTS (120,000 in San Bernardino and 130,000 in Riverside) through various outreach and educational programs, as verified through pre/ post test surveys.  For example, official DBH data reveal that for FY 2011-2012 El Sol served 11,294 individuals, when the original projected goal was 3,840, a 194% positive difference.

 El Sol is now implementing Community Health Workers in the African American (AAMHC), Asian American, and Native American communities.

Striving for Excellence

The grassroots, peer-to-peer connection is a strength of the CHW model, and its effectiveness has been proven through El Sol’s own evaluations and external research. To build additional rigor and consistency into its training process, El Sol has partnered with Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health to develop the Community Health Workers Academy leveraging evidence-based content certified by Loma Linda faculty.

A portion of Give Big San Bernardino money will be for the Community Engagement Policy Initiative (CEPI).  This initiative is building the capcity of El Sol community health workers to advocate for policies and programs that improve community health outcomes.