Public Health Workforce Training and Technical Assistance

As a public health institute, IPHI is critical in helping assure that local health departments and other public health professionals have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to carry out their functions to advance the public’s health.

IPHI provides training and technical assistance on topics integral to public health practice. The training team leverages subject matter expertise from the IPHI team and the National Network of Public Health Institutes network.

As an example, IPHI is proud to be a training provider for The Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center (MAR-PHTC). MAR-PHTC is part of a national network of 10 public health training centers funded by the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration to improve the public health system by strengthening the public health workforce’s technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership competence. MAR-PHTC serves the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. This program is based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. 

IPHI has developed and completed multiple health department training, including:

• Public Health Leadership
• Quality Improvement in Local Health Departments
• Community Health Worker Core Skills Trainings
• Community Health Worker (CHW) Supervisor Trainings 
• Cultural Humility and Culturally Responsive Care
• Healthy and Equitable Communities
• Roots of Health Inequities
• Communicating Equity to Decision-makers

In May 2020, IPHI partnered with the Fairfax County Health Department to aid in the workforce COVID-19 response. The team designed a week-long training curriculum for case investigators and contact tracers and developed a special training curriculum for COVID-19 community health workers. The classes were so well-received that the health department requested an enrollment of over 250 government personnel in the program. Since then, IPHI has educated 1,000 pandemic responders. 

In 2021, IPHI supported the Virginia Blue Ridge Health District to adapt its internal policies and practices to become an anti-racist organization committed to promoting health equity.

Additional work with health departments includes training and technical assistance with the Richmond City Health District, Peninsula Health District, and Norfolk City Department of Health. IPHI assists the local health department to develop an Equity and Health in All Policies (EHiAP) approach to local governmental decision-making. The training team also provided training, industry best practices,  strategic support in engaging elected officials and other governmental leaders, and policy expertise in developing and passing local legislation to support the use of an EHiAP framework. 

IPHI’s educational and training opportunities include classroom-based instruction, workshops, and online professional development events, as well as tailored technical assistance on topics including:

• Public Health
• Health Equity
• Equity and Health in All Policies (EHiAP)
• Social Determinants of Health
• Community Health Worker Development
• Leadership and Management
• Racism as a Public Health Crisis
• Cultural Humility
• Implicit Bias in Public Health and Healthcare
• Community Engagement
• Conducting Equity Impact Reviews of Policies, Programs, and Services
• Communicating Equity to Decision-makers

For more information about public health workforce training offered by IPHI, please email trainings@old.institutephi.org.