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Advancing the public health workforce to achieve organizational excellence
About the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals
​​​The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) are a consensus set of knowledge and skills for the broad practice of public health, as defined by the 10 Essential Public Health Services. Developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice​ (Council on Linkages), the Core Competencies reflect foundational or crosscutting knowledge and skills for professionals engaging in the practice, education, and research of public health.
 
The Core Competencies are the result of 30 years of work by the Council on Linkages and other public health practice and academic organizations, beginning with development of the Universal Competencies by the Public Health Faculty/Agency Forum in 1991. The original version of the Core Competencies was released in 2001, and the Council on Linkages adopted revisions to the Core Competencies in May 2010, June 2014, and October 2021. Guided by the Council on Linkages’ Core Competencies Workgroup, the Core Competencies are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure these competencies continue to reflect the skills needed for protecting the nation’s health. 
 
The 2021 version of the Core Competencies is now available. Download a free copy of this latest version, and visit the 2021 Core Competencies review and revision process webpage to learn more about its development.
 
The Core Competencies are organized into eight domains, representing skill areas within public health, and three tiers, which describe different types of responsibilities within public health organizations. These competencies support public health workforce development and can serve as a starting point for public health practice and academic organizations as they create workforce development plans, identify training and workforce needs, prepare for accreditation, and more.

Examples of Use
Public health professionals are using the Core Competencies in a variety of settings, including the federal government, health departments, and academic institutions. The Core Competencies provide the framework for several sets of discipline-specific competencies and have been incorporated into Healthy People 2030 objectives and the Public Health Accreditation Board Standards and Measures. Specific examples of how organizations have used the Core Competencies are available in the Putting the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals into Practice collection.
 
Tools
A variety of tools are available to support public health professionals and organizations in using the Core Competencies. Tools and other resources are accessible through the Core Competencies Tools webpage.
 
For more information about the Core Competencies, please contact Kathleen Amos at kamos@phf.org​.
 

Latest Information About the Core Competencies

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About the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals