Saturday, May 4, 2024
5/4/2024
The public health workforce is an essential component in the collective efforts to protect and improve population health and achieve health equity; however, several issues threaten the sustainability of the current workforce, including the loss of large numbers of workers to retirement and turnover and a lack of diversity. Further, the current COVID-19 pandemic has placed an even greater demand on the limited supply of public health workers, as well as highlighted glaring and unacceptable racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes. The UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program’ aims to increase the diversity of the public health workforce, improve the representation of underserved and underrepresented groups in public health, and to solidify the public health pipeline, all of which will ultimately raise the quality of public health service. This opportunity exposes undergraduate students to the field of public health through an eight-week residential summer training program. Building on existing relationships with local and national universities and colleges, we will continue to implement strategies to recruit students from underserved and underrepresented communities, including both urban and rural locales. Scholars will be placed at public health organizations or agencies within the Los Angeles community and contribute to public health efforts three days a week, exposing them to the spectrum of public health practice in the field. For the remaining two days per week, Scholars attend workshops and engage in structured educational opportunities designed to foster a passion for public health, develop leadership and professional skills, and cultivate mentoring relationships with public health professionals, graduate students, and faculty. Through this experience, Scholars will gain increased awareness of public health career options, and it is our expectation that the majority of Scholars will apply for graduate school and eventually ente r a health profession. In order to contribute to the evidence-base for undergraduate programs and ensure continuous quality improvement, we will conduct a rigorous evaluation of the training program, assessing short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. Process evaluations will examine the program’s reach, fidelity, and stakeholder satisfaction. In addition, we will assess the program’s effectiveness in increasing Scholars’ interest in and awareness of public health careers, knowledge of public health concepts, understanding of professional expectations, and desire to pursue graduate training in public health.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
