Washington, DC, July 13, 2023 — Today the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), representing the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments, named U.S. Representative Jason Crow (CO-6) the inaugural recipient of its Champion of Local Governmental Public Health Award. This award recognizes outstanding, significant, and innovative activities and accomplishments by an individual, agency, or organization that has consistently or, in an extraordinary way, promoted the visibility, importance, and recognition of local governmental health departments or NACCHO on a national basis. The award was presented during the 2023 NACCHO360 Annual Conference in Denver on July 12, 2023.

Since his election in 2019, Representative Crow has been a steadfast champion for public health. Recognizing the need to invest in the next generation of public health workers, Rep. Crow introduced the bipartisan Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 to help health departments recruit and retain exceptional staff with the skills to tackle emerging and ongoing challenges. Due in large part to Rep. Crow’s efforts, NACCHO’s top legislative priority, the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act became law in December 2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.

“Representative Crow’s service as a national voice for local public health in the United States Congress, working across the aisle to advance important public health legislation, has strengthened public health policy outcomes across our nation,” said NACCHO’s Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman. “We are particularly grateful for his commitment to advancing legislation to establish a Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program into law. Through the creation and adoption of this new program, Representative Crow has helped support and grow our public health workforce and ensure that we are thoroughly prepared for future pandemics or public health crises. We hope that his service inspires others to act in a similar vein.”

NACCHO has led a multi-stakeholder coalition to support the creation of a loan repayment program to support governmental public health professionals. Under the new law, the Health Resources and Services Administration is directed to establish a program to offer up to $150,000 in loan repayment to public health professionals who agree to serve three years in a local, state, or tribal health department. The program will be open to public health professionals who have graduated within the past 10 years with a range of degrees vital to the needs of a 21st century public health workforce like public health, epidemiology, data systems, informatics, and statistics. Representative Crow is also leading the charge in the House of Representatives to secure funding for the program in Fiscal Year 2024. Along with Representative Michael Burgess (TX-26), Representative Crow authored a letter in March 2023 to House of Representatives Appropriators urging funding for the program in Fiscal Year 2024, which was signed by a total of 32 members of Congress.

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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.