The Region 1 New England Public Health Training Center is delighted to announce that its HRSA funding proposal was successful! The New England Public Health Training Center will be funded by HRSA for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022 as long the program remains in the federal budget.

(There is national university-based advocacy on behalf of the training centers to keep the PHTCs in the federal budget.)

In this grant cycle, HRSA recommended a list of training requirements that are in line with cross cutting skills to attain Public Health 3.0 (which supports public health professionals in the role of “chief health strategist” working on health equity issues), an emphasis on medically underserved communities/areas, an increase in field placement stipend award level with a commensurate improvement in sharing learning from those projects, and several recommended training topics and HHS health priorities (opioids, mental health, childhood obesity). Michael L. Jenkins, Jr., MPH, CHES is NEPHTC’s HRSA Project Officer, Social Scientist.   Anne Fidler, PI, and Karla Todd, Program Manager, meet regularly with the HRSA Project Officer with updates on NEPHTC’s progress.

In addition to the subject matter changes, HRSA has recommended a new form of partnership: Community Based Partners (called CBTs – T for “training” partners).  The intention is for community-based partners to have strong relationships with the workforces that can impact population health.  NEPHTC’s Community Based Partners for the 2018-2022 grant cycle will be:

• Connecticut: Yale University, School of Public Health which organizes with the Connecticut Partnership for Public Health Workforce Development
• Maine: University of New England, Center for Excellence in Health Innovation
• Massachusetts: Boston University School of Public Health, Activist Lab (LPHI and SHIELD)
• New Hampshire: New Hampshire Public Health Association
• Rhode Island, Department of Health Academic Center
• Vermont: Vermont Public Health Institute

In addition to the Community based Partners, NEPHTC will also be collaborating with several new and existing partners:

• The National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI)
• Maine Public Health Association
• Rhode Island Public Health Institute
• New Hampshire Southern Area Health Education Center
• Community Health Education Center, BPHC
• University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Western Massachusetts Public Health Training Center

We are excited to begin working with all of our partners in the next phase of the Region 1 New England Public Health Training Center to support public health!

We look forward to continuing to serve and work with public health professionals, to continuing to develop and deliver meaningful public health training and move with our workforce toward Public Health 3.0.

This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under UB6HP31685 and Regional Public Health Training Center Program $924,899.00, (0%financed with non-governmental sources). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.