Cornell University’s Health Impacts Core (CHIC) is offering a free public health workforce development + retention opportunity that you and your staff might be interested in:

• Free access to Public Health Essentials (PHE), starting as soon as March 2025
   
• CHIC is aiming to enroll ~40 learning teams from local/tribal/county health departments who serve rural communities
• A learning team is a group of ~4-6 staff who want to commit to enhancing their public health strategic skills together

About Public Health Essentials (PHE)

• Integrated, hands on curriculum proven to build public health workers’ core competencies and strategic skills 
• Accessed and completed online in an asynchronous manner (no set class time) and runs for 15 weeks; learners should be prepared to dedicate 5 hours/week to the program - >70% of learners complete the full 80-hour certificate program
• Awarded a Quality Seal, and has been used to upskill more than 1,500 public health workers in the U.S. so far
• Proven effective with those who are new to the field of public health, those who have been working for some time, and those with or without a bachelor’s or master’s degree

What Health Departments + Teams Commit To

• Learning teams need to be willing to commit ~5 hours to learning each week (any day, any time) for 15 weeks. This includes ~ 3 hours of learning + ~2 hours of applying the learning (in discussion, via guided activities); there is no requirement to meet in person or via Zoom, although there are optional ‘office hours’
• Supervisors need to be willing to help learning team members carve out time to invest in this free professional development

Why It’s Worth It

• Learners who complete the hands-on and applied curriculum will feel more competent and confident in all public health strategic skill domains
• Local health departments who support their staff to do this see a great return on [time] investment 
• Learners who complete the hands-on and applied curriculum earn the Public Health Essentials certificate, and 80 CPH CEU/hours

Next Steps

• Learn More Here! Have more questions? Contact: [email protected]
• Express Your Interest Here! Our next course starts March 26, 2025