Collaborations

We are well-connected to each other, to our national partners, and to the expertise needed to support the public health workforce on a local and national basis.

The Public Health Learning Agenda for Systems Change

Today’s workforce development models (and many trainings) do not address systems change in the community. Rather, they focus on how to improve individual skills and knowledge to do a particular job or task. While this is important, these trainings don’t create a workforce and network of partners who, together, are equipped to address the root challenges of public health today.

Developed by the Public Health Training Center Network (Regions 1, 4, 5, 8 and 10) — in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Policy, Practice, and Prevention Research Center — the Learning Agenda is designed to help public health teams use learning to achieve a vision of healthy, thriving communities.

The goal of the Learning Agenda is to help public health organizations, their partners, and communities use transformative learning as a driver for systems change. Read more about the Learning Agenda and its core components:

The Learning Agenda Manuscript
The Conceptual Learning Framework, including the six steps of the Learning Agenda
Results of the pilot test of the Learning Agenda in the Journal for Public Health Management and Practice
Other tools and worksheets
Coming soon: a short video about the Learning Agenda

Racial Justice Competencies for Public Health Professionals

The PHTCN, in partnership with NNPHI, has developed a set of Racial Justice Competencies for Public Health Professionals that can be used in developing racial justice education training. This is consistent with agencies across the country declaring racism a public health issue, and expressing interest in ongoing health equity and racial justice training.

Process:

Create a competency library of more than 650 statements from existing competency models related to race and equity
Enlist an expert panel of 35 public health professionals to identify, modify, and categorize competencies
Build draft models
Validate via surveys, town halls, and pilot testing
Finalize and disseminate

Components:

The RJCM now contains 51 total statements (17 introductory, 17 intermediate, 17 leading) – across the following domains:

Assessment
Policy Development
Assurance

All are aligned with the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals and the 10 Essential Public Health Services.

PH WINS

The de Beaumont Foundation and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials are excited to partner with the Regional Public Health Training Centers to broaden access to the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). PH WINS supports the government public health workforce by measuring strengths and gaps to inform future investments and decisions making in funding, training, recruitment, and retention. Conducted in 2014, 2017, and 2021 by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, PH WINS is the only nationally representative source of data about the individuals who make up the government public health workforce. It collects data on the demographics of the workforce and captures individual public health workers’ perspectives on topics such as workforce engagement, morale, culture, training needs, and intention to leave.

PH WINS has always included state health agencies, and participation from local health departments has grown over time. Prior to 2021, PH WINS excluded local health departments that had less than 25 staff or served a population of less than 25,000. Through a partnership with the Region V Public Health Training Center and the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, PH WINS 2021 piloted the expansion of the survey to local health department of all sizes in both regions. This pilot increased the local health department sample in PH WINS by 400%, with 223 local departments in both regions participating (about 50%).

Building on the success of the pilot, de Beaumont is partnering with the Regional Public Health Training Centers to expand PH WINS to all local health departments of all sizes, across the nation. The goal is for 30% of local health departments to participate in PH WINS 2024, which would enrich the data and its usefulness by allowing for:

Creation of the first nationally representative sample of the small and/or rural local health departments
Deeper analyses of local health departments by size in each region
Breakdowns of local health department data within states

For more information on the 2024 survey, including frequently asked questions and what participants can expect, visit the PH WINS 2024 webpage and read about its new directions.