Dr. Angela Landin, a faculty member who leads Southeast Technical College's community health worker (CHW) instruction and civic engagement coordination, told the board the program prepares CHWs to connect patients with medical care and social supports. She said the certificate was shortened to eight weeks, runs multiple cohorts per year and includes internships and supervised community shadowing.

Landin said program participants often come from the communities they serve and that the college has strong retention among graduates. She described CHWs as "the bridge" between clinical services and barriers such as transportation, childcare and housing, and said clinical partners are billing Medicaid for CHW services under a South Dakota Medicaid State Plan Amendment implemented for CHW/CHR work.

On scale and costs, Landin described the certificate as "an 8‑week online certificate for $3,000, roughly," and reported recent cohorts included both scholarship and self‑pay students after earlier grant funding ended. She said a large share of the local pipeline comes from Southeast Technical College and that the program aims to expand the statewide CHW workforce over the coming years.

Board members pressed on practical next steps, asking whether CHWs could be placed in at‑risk schools. Landin recommended starting with one CHW in each targeted school and noted multiple funding avenues under consideration, including rural health transformation grant dollars and other state funds. She also said some certification and oversight work is managed by the nonprofit CHW South Dakota.

The board voted to accept the CHW program report by voice vote. The report will inform further budget and staffing discussions as the college explores school‑based pilots and scholarship funding to scale the program.