Announcement of an Exempt Purchase

The Community Health Worker program of South Suburban College prepares graduates to be frontline public health workers who are trusted members of and/or have an unusually close understanding of the community they serve. This trusting relationship enables community health workers to serve as a liaison between health and social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve service delivery's quality and cultural competence. This program also builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through various activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy. The school will provide certification training for new CHWs. Tuition and fees for 30 participants.

This purchase is exempt from the usual selection processes of the Procurement Code because the procurement expenditure is for performing sponsored research and other sponsored activities under grants and contracts funded by the sponsor or by sources other than State appropriations. (30 ILCS 500 / 1-13(b)(8)) The amount was determined by a grant received from HRSA for Community Health Workers Training. The grant states that we must have collaborative partners that would offer a Community Health Workers program for the residents of Cook County and the surrounding suburbs.