Introducing The Racial Justice Competency Model for Public Health Professionals (RJCM)

Many agencies have declared racism a public health issue and have implemented DEI trainings in response, but this alone will not change the structures and systems upholding racism and marginalization.

Therefore, the Public Health Training Center Network (PHTCN), with support from the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), formed a racial justice workgroup in 2020 with the aim to assist individuals and organizations in putting racial equity and justice principles into practice.

As a result, the workgroup developed the Racial Justice Competency Model for Public Health Professionals (RJCM) as an educational and operational framework for the public health workforce. The RJCM gives public health professionals a single, clear, specific competency set for intentionally promoting equity and racial justice.

The PHTCs, partners, and other public health professionals can use the RJCM for training, hiring, performance management, and policy development while addressing racism in public health. Visit the RJCM website (https://rjcmph.org/) to learn more about the process and to download the competencies.