Since 2007, Last Mile Health has worked with national health systems and local partners to equip rural locations around the world with community health workers and to improve access to and quality of care in the most hard to reach areas. In addition to their work on the ground, LMH runs a Community Health Academy that trains health workers to support their local areas with high-quality health education. LMH makes health systems stronger and more sustainable, and advocates for best practices in community health by prioritizing the unique needs of those in the communities they empower.

Melissa Bornico spoke with Mike Perez, the CEO of Open Learning Exchange, to get his perspective on how learning and education have been impacted by COVID-19. What follows is a poignant illustration of his organization’s effort to empower communities before and through a global health emergency, a meaningful outlook on his vision for learning, and an example of the resiliency that people can have when equipped with their own actualized potential.