The real cost of building your own CHW curriculum | Umemba Health
A decision-support tool for CHW training programs
Buy vs Build Calculator

The real cost of building your own CHW curriculum.

Three sliders. Real numbers. Information you can take back to leadership today.

You have a decision in front of you. Build your Community Health Worker (CHW) curriculum from scratch, or license one that is ready to teach. The right answer depends on your timeline, your team, and your budget. The calculator below shows you the real cost of each path.

The calculator

Run your numbers.

The defaults reflect a typical CHW certification program. Move the sliders to match your reality.

Training hours you need to deliver 40 hrs

A standard CHW certification runs 40 to 180 hours. Adjust to your program.

Hourly cost of staff who would build it $75/hr

This number just includes hourly rates. Be sure to consider the work your staff would stop doing.

License tier you are comparing

Package B fits most mid-size organizations. Package C fits health systems and large departments.

Your numbers
Build it yourself Hours of staff time, multiplied by hourly rate
$90,000
License from Umemba Health One-time, lifetime license
$20,000
Hours of staff work avoided At 30 development hours per CE hour
1,200 hrs
Months back in your timeline 30 days or less to launch vs 12 to 18 months
11+ mo
Back in your budget $70,000

How the math works

The math draws on the most widely cited industry research on instructional design timelines: Kapp and Defelice's Time to Develop One Hour of Training, published through ATD. Their study puts development time at 34 to 217 hours per finished hour of content, depending on interactivity. We use 30 hours as a conservative estimate for instructor-led training, which is on the low end of that range. The calculator does not include the time to navigate state accreditation. Build cost is training hours multiplied by 30 development hours, multiplied by your hourly rate. License cost is the package you selected. Months saved compares the typical 12- to 18-month custom-build cycle to our 30-day launch timeline.

Side by side

What you actually get for the money.

Option one

Build it yourself.

Cost
$90,000
Timeline
12 to 18 months to launch
Curriculum
You research, write, and validate every module
Updates
You maintain the curriculum every year
Support
You and your team, alone
Option two

License from Umemba Health.

Cost
$20,000
Timeline
30 days or less to launch*
Curriculum
25 evidence-based nationally aligned modules
Updates
One year of free updates with option to purchase annual updates
Support
Instructor training and technical assistance included

*Reflects curriculum delivery from Umemba Health. Each licensee's time to first cohort depends on their own internal launch timeline.

The proof

Proven across 5,000+ CHWs and 300+ organizations.

5,000
Community Health Workers trained through our curriculum
300
Organizations across the country where our CHWs serve
15
Organizations have licensed the curriculum as their CHW training standard

This May marks four years as an instructor, during which I have trained nearly 50 Community Health Workers. The curriculum is outstanding, well structured, easy to navigate, and consistently up to date. Umemba Health's support has been exceptional throughout the entire process, making implementation seamless and sustainable.

Allen Barrett CHW Instructor, The Montrose Center, Houston, Texas. Licensed in 2024.
A memo for leadership

Copy this into your next memo.

The math, the proof, and the recommendation in language your finance department will understand. The text updates as you move the sliders above.

Draft memo
After running the buy-versus-build analysis, licensing the Umemba Health CHW Training Curriculum would cost our organization $20,000, compared with an estimated $315,000 to build the same curriculum internally. That is a $295,000 gap before factoring in the 11+ months we would save by launching in 30 days instead of waiting 12 to 18 months for an internal build. The curriculum is aligned with the National C3 Core Competencies and approved by Texas DSHS. Umemba Health has trained 5,000+ Community Health Workers who serve communities across 300+ organizations nationwide, so their curriculum has already been validated. I recommend we proceed with licensing their CHW curriculum. They even have an option to white-label the curriculum. Would you like me to schedule a curriculum demo and find out next steps?

Want to see the curriculum before you license it?

30 minutes on Zoom. A live walkthrough. No pressure to commit on the call.

Schedule a demo