NNPHI to Serve as the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training

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October 17, 2014, Washington, DC:

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) a four-year Cooperative Agreement to serve the nation’s public health workforce through a National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training (NCCPHT). The purpose of the NCCPHT is to provide technical assistance to the Regional Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs) to enhance their capacity and infrastructure to improve the Nation’s public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership competencies of the public health workforce.

“NNPHI is honored to be HRSA’s selection to serve as the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training (NCCPHT). We look forward to working closely with a myriad of partners throughout the nation to leverage our NNPHI model to build a sustainable and coordinated network of Regional Public Health Training Centers (RPHTCs) working together to co-create, modernize, standardize, and distribute evenly to all communities and Tribes a best-in-class curriculum to advance the nation’s public health workforce,” said Vincent Lafronza, NNPHI President and CEO.

NNPHI congratulates the ten RPHTCs selected, which include the University of Arizona, University of Colorado, Emory University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, Tulane University, Boston University, Columbia University, University of Pittsburg, University of Washington. “Strong, collaborative relationships between public health academia and state and local public health practitioners are vital to our nation’s efforts to build and sustain effective public health systems for preventing disease and promoting health for all. We are grateful for this opportunity to support the Public Health Training Centers in their important work,” said Jonathan Stewart, NNPHI Board Chair.

HRSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and NNPHI are collaborating on this effort to increase innovative efficiencies that reduce duplication and provide maximum return on the public’s investments in prevention. State and local health departments across the United States are the backbone of a public health system that promotes health and prevents disease. Public health institutes enhance public health systems by fostering innovation, leveraging resources, and building partnerships across sectors. As communities address root causes of disease and expand efforts to bridge public health and health care, the public health workforce’s training needs are evolving. NNPHI member institutes offer a myriad of competencies essential to the success of the newly forming RPHTCs, including expertise in quality improvement, training using adult learning methodologies, technical assistance implementation, assessment, research and evaluation, bridging multi-sector population health improvement efforts, and many other practice areas germane to contemporary public health challenges.

The NCCPHT will expand NNPHI’s existing capacity-building assistance to federal agencies, state and local health departments, public health institutes, and the broader public health workforce. It will build on NNPHI’s collaborative work with foundations and federal agencies beyond HRSA, including CDC, the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, among others.

To learn more about NNPHI and opportunities to work with its growing membership, please visit nnphi.org.

About HRSA

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care by strengthening the health care workforce, building healthy communities and achieving health equity. For more information about HRSA, visit www.hrsa.gov.

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About the National Network of Public Health Institutes

Public health institutes are nonprofit organizations that improve the public’s health by fostering innovation, leveraging resources, and building partnerships across sectors, including government agencies, communities, the health care delivery system, media, and academia. NNPHI’s mission is to support national public health system initiatives and strengthen public health institutes to promote multi-sector activities resulting in measurable improvements of public health structures, systems, and outcomes. Learn more about NNPHI and its member institutes at www.nnphi.org.