NEPHTC is pleased to announce that NEPTHC’s 2021 Workforce Development Needs Assessment will be conducted in partnership with the New England Rural Health Association.  Kathi Traugh, Director of Public Health Workforce Development for NETPHTC’s partner Yale School of Public Health, Practice Office, and Hope Kenefick, NEPTHC Evaluator will be conducting the Needs Assessment. Kathi, Hope and I met with Ann Marie Day, Executive Director of NERHA in December, and are enthusiastic about  this great collaboration.  We thank Advisory Committee member Erica Piedade, , Director of Local Public Health Initiatives for the Massachusetts Office of Local and Regional Health, and Kirby Lecy, MDPH State Office of Rural Health,  for the introduction.

We are so pleased to be able to work on a rural needs assessment, and grateful that NERHA will help us with the available resources and introductions for key informant interviews.  We believe the output will be of value to both the association, as it considers workforce development needs, and to NEPHTC as we consider our choices in meeting workforce development needs in our important rural areas of New England.

The study will take a mixed method/environmental scan approach, reviewing existing literature and relevant reports as well as conducting key informant interviews. The goal is to paint a picture of rural public health and related workforce development needs in New England by each state and on a regional level.  The report will:

• Define and describe rural public health in each of the six New England states, including the major challenges faced by rural public health practitioners
• Describe the rural public health workforce: roles, credentials, workplaces, CE requirements
• Identify areas of rural public health practice that could be strengthened by access to training
• Identify potential partners and training assets
• Discuss how NEPHTC can work with partners to help meet workforce development needs