Essentials for Supporting Health Departments and Other Governmental Public Health Agencies

About the training plan

This training plan:

• can help you understand the unique capabilities and functions of governmental public health agencies to create strong partnerships and actionable recommendations.

• is free, self-paced, includes a variety of learning formats, and is available in CDC TRAIN.

• has five sections that cover structures and functions of STLT agencies, health department accreditation, legal powers, funding, and partnering and communication.

Training objectives

After completing this training plan, you will be able to:

• Describe variation and common characteristics, structures, and functions of STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents, that must be considered when preparing to work with these entities (e.g., centralization, workforce composition, revenue sources, services provided).

• Identify at least three sources or methods to effectively gather up-to-date information about the characteristics and current context of STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents.

• Discuss how changes in context or circumstance may influence successful program implementation in STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents.

• Share three strategies to proactively build and maintain partnerships within and across STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents.

• Describe how to apply tailored networking and communication approaches to build partnerships with diverse STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents (e.g., based on funding type and funding relationship, level of engagement, level of authority/accountability).

• Describe three communication strategies that can be used to solve problems and develop collaborative solutions within STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents.

• Identify critical internal and external team members and partners needed to support the goals and priorities of STLT and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents.

Who this training is for

This training plan is for anyone new to public health and those who want to strengthen their work in support of state, tribal, local, or territorial and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents (STLTs).