Council on Linkages Meeting Summary October 2021 |
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Revision of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals Nearing Completion |
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The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies), a consensus set of foundational or crosscutting knowledge and skills for the broad practice of public health, are currently undergoing revision to ensure that they keep current with changes in the field and continue to meet the needs of the public health workforce. Revision of the Core Competencies is heavily informed by feedback from the public health community, and efforts to hear feedback led to more than 1,500 engagements with the revision process and collection of more than 120 resources to inform the revision. Significant feedback to guide the revisions was received, highlighting a desire to create better harmonization among efforts that impact the workforce and workforce development, add content in a variety of topic areas, and make it easier to use the Core Competencies, among other items. These needs were addressed in a variety of ways in proposed revisions to the Core Competencies, which are under consideration by the Council on Linkages. The proposed revisions will also be shared during an October 25th session at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting (Session 3001.0). For more information about the revision of the Core Competencies, please visit the revision webpage or contact Kathleen Amos at kamos@phf.org.
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Academic Health Department Learning Community Highlights Successful AHD Partnerships |
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With more than 1,100 members from across the country, the Academic Health Department (AHD) Learning Community continues to provide support for organizations developing, sustaining, and expanding AHD partnerships. Activities of the Learning Community include highlighting successful AHD partnerships. Over the past year, partnerships have been featured during AHD Webinars focused on the Pima County Health Department (PCHD) and University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) AHD partnership and MEZCOPH’s AHD internship program, leading to the development of a Field Notes story about the PCHD and MEZCOPH internship programs by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support. AHD partnerships were also the focus of sessions at the 2021 Public Health Improvement Training and 2021 National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) 360 Conference and will be highlighted during the upcoming APHA Annual Meeting in the October 25th session Envisioning and Building the Public Health Workforce of the Future: The Critical Role of Partnerships (Session 3096.0). For more details about the AHD Learning Community, please visit the Learning Community webpage or contact Kathleen Amos at kamos@phf.org.
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Rebuilding the Public Health Workforce |
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Considerable new federal funding is available to support development of governmental public health infrastructure, and training is an important part of this funding. There are opportunities for state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to enhance and rebuild their public health workforce. There also are challenges, such as rapidly recruiting and hiring staff, providing training, and navigating funding streams. With efforts underway to provide assistance in these and other areas, representatives from the Health Resources and Services Administration, CDC, the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, and NACCHO shared updates with the Council on Linkages on current initiatives aimed at rebuilding the public health workforce.
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The Council on Linkages welcomed the Public Health Accreditation Board as a new member organization and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) as a formal member organization. PHAB will be represented by Rex Archer, MD, MPH. The Council on Linkages also welcomed new representatives: Lori Edwards, DrPH, MPH, BSN, RN, CNS-PCH, BC, for the Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations and Nancy Harada, PhD, PT, for VHA. A current list of Council on Linkages member organizations and representatives is available on the Council on Linkages website.
- The next Council on Linkages meeting has not yet been scheduled, but is anticipated to be held in 2022.
Additional information about the meeting, including the agenda and other meeting materials, is available on the meeting webpage.
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Questions and comments may be emailed to Kathleen Amos at kamos@phf.org.
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