Kentucky's Application for MRC STTRONG 2023 - The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) seeks to secure two-year grant funding through the MRC-STTRONG Award in collaboration with key stakeholders. The goal of the project is to enhance the MRC’s capabilities to prepare for, respond to and recover from public health emergencies and disasters. The approach is expand Kentucky’s MRC volunteer coverage through recruitment and retention strategies. The objectives are: 1) prepare for future public health emergencies and disasters, 2) Improve and leverage partnerships with healthcare and public health stakeholders, 3) Ensure MRC response readiness through development of innovative workshops, trainings, and exercises. The expected outcomes of this project are: 1) Increase overall capacity and capabilities of Kentucky’s MRC program to ensure long-term sustainability of the MRC units, 2) Increase knowledge, skills, and abilities of Kentucky MRC volunteers, 3) Increase capacity for the recruitment and retention of new MRC volunteers, 4) Standardize security processes for onboarding and vetting potential MRC volunteers. The products from this project are: 1) a final report, including evaluation results; 2) data on volunteer engagement collected through the pre-survey and post-survey, 3) partner-driven reports related to volunteer recruitment and retention. KDPH will prioritize strategies and activities to achieve expected objectives and outcomes over the two-year project period.
