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ASTHO Files Amicus Brief in Michigan Case, Argues Against Criminally Charging Health Officials During Major Public Health Crises ARLINGTON, VA—Last week, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) filed an amicus brief with the Genesee District Court in Michigan asserting that criminal prosecutions of health officials based on their professional judgment and decisions will weaken governmental public health’s ability to respond during health emergencies and present additional risks to the public. The court case is the first of its kind where a standing health official has been criminally charged for an alleged failure to notify the public regarding an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in Genesee County in 2014 and 2015. The outcome of this case is of great interest to ASTHO and its members who are concerned that the threat of criminal sanctions based on a health official’s professional, discretionary decisions will endanger public health. “We are very alarmed by this case, and the fact that a health official can be criminally charged to this extent for doing his job, especially during a public health crisis, is not right,” says John Wiesman, president of ASTHO and secretary of health at the Washington State Department of Health. “ASTHO’s board has carefully considered the allegations in the case. As public health officials, our decisionmaking does not fit within a one-size-fits-all model, but rather includes a thoughtful approach to limiting widespread panic, translating meaningful communication about public health risks and proper efforts to address the crisis at hand, especially when information is subject to change or incomplete.” “The outcome of this case could have an immediate chilling impact on the entire public health profession and a cascading effect on critical life and death decisions public health officials face every day,” says Michael Fraser, CEO of ASTHO. “The public must trust our public health officials to make the right decision at the right time and the fear of criminal prosecution will stymie their efforts.” The amicus brief also notes that “the basis for responsible public health communication is scientific knowledge and consensus,” and “[p]ractitioners have a responsibility to examine the quality of the available scientific information prior to performing any communication activity.” ASTHO Press Release Boilerplate website yes

ASTHO and de Beaumont Foundation Commit to Improve the Public Health Workforce ARLINGTON, VA—The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the de Beaumont Foundation announce a new project building upon their successful Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). The new project will enhance public health workforce policies and practice and is called “PH WINS: Research to Action.” Earlier this year, ASTHO and de Beaumont released PH WINS, the first nationally representative survey of the governmental public health work force. PH WINS surveyed more than 10,000 public health workers, exploring their attitudes, morale, and climate, and developing a baseline of key workforce development metrics. Analyses of the PH WINS data set were published in a special supplemental version of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice in November 2015. “PH WINS: Research to Action” builds on these findings to meet the training and development needs of the public health workforce. Together, the de Beaumont Foundation and ASTHO will: Create and maintain a community of practice focused on the development of the public health workforce. Craft and implement a standardized training needs assessment that goes beyond PH WINS. Develop and test a web-based tool for high-quality online training for the public health workforce. To achieve these objectives, ASTHO will utilize focus groups and a newly developed community of practice to develop innovative ideas to encourage the uptake of recommended policies and practices. The outcomes of “PH WINS: Research to Action” will be made available to all state and local health departments. ASTHO Press Release Boilerplate de Beaumont Boilerplate website yes

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice Releases Studies Analyzing Largest Ever Public Health Workforce Survey

ASTHO Announces Sixth Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health Cohort ARLINGTON, VA — Today, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) announced its sixth cohort of Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health (DELPH). This highly competitive program began in 2021 and continues to strengthen the leadership capacity of mid- to senior-level governmental public health professionals. “I am thrilled to welcome the sixth cohort of the DELPH Program,” says Avia Mason, ASTHO vice president for leadership and learning. “This group of 20 scholars brings exceptional dedication and passion to the work of public health, and we are honored to support their journey as they strengthen their leadership, expand their impact, and improve the health of their communities.” Cohort six scholars include: Faisal Adam, DC Health Department Vina Ayuyu, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Misty Carney, Maryland Department of Health Colette Cobb, Office of the California Surgeon General Angela Cochran, St. Mary's County Health Department Jessie Fernandes, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Tynisha George, Chicago Department of Public Health Ethan Greenblatt, St. Louis County Department of Public Health Gabby Hadly, Snohomish County Health Department Shebra Hall, Delaware Division of Public Health Brandon Horvath, Philadelphia Department of Public Health Halana Kaleel, Austin Public Health Markeeta Keyes, City of Minneapolis - Health - Green Career Exploration Aracely Macias, New Jersey Department of Health Chelsea Moriarty Coffield, Harris County Public Health Natasha Pickens Shumpert, Jefferson County Department of Health Dipa Shah, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity Program Jamilia Sherls, Washington State Department of Health Iliana Siarmalis, Maryland Department of Health Tenneh Turner-Warren, Arizona Dept of Health Services ASTHO continues its commitment to developing, elevating, and modeling strong leadership for the next generation of emerging public health leaders. At a time when public health demands courageous vision, strategic action and collaborative strength, programs like DELPH are more essential than ever. Through an innovative, cohort-model, participants will deepen their leadership identity, enhance their communication, and grow their ability to positively influence their organizations. Each participant is matched with an executive coach, accountability partner and DELPH team member for personalized, transformative leadership development. “Morehouse School of Medicine is proud to continue its partnership with ASTHO in facilitating the DELPH program,” says Sandra Harris-Hooker, senior vice president for external affairs and innovation and interim director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). “This ongoing collaboration between ASTHO and MSM’s SHLI advances our institution vision of ‘Leading the creation and advancement of health equity to achieve health justice.’ Together, we are equipping and empowering individuals to step into national and global arenas where strong, equity-centered public health leadership is needed most.” With support from the CDC, the success of the DELPH program’s more than 100 alumni demonstrates how strengthened leadership translates into stronger public health systems as they take on the pressing challenges facing our communities. Cohort six scholars will kick off their programming on December 8 in Arlington, VA. ASTHO Press Release Boilerplate website yes

On this episode, graduates of ASTHO’s Essentials of Leadership and Management share how the program has improved their work and helped them grow as leaders.

A public health approach is needed to address youth mental health by supporting frontline staff through a “helping the helpers” model. In this episode, experts discuss strategies and promising state practices for cross-sector collaborations.

ASTHO’s Senior Leadership Reserve Corps is helping state health officials and their agencies achieve their goals, like the revitalization of Wisconsin’s Public Health Council.

In this episode, guests discuss the urgent need to find new recruits in forensic pathology and urge state health officials to consider reforms that could help bring reinforcement to a critical yet often neglected profession with a huge impact on public health.

This episode, the second of a two-part series, continues the conversation on moving from concept into practice, as well as how to apply ASTHO's three pillars for population health improvement to support clinical to community connections, improve health equity and the social determinants of health, and utilize public health informatics.

This episode is the first in a two-part series that will explore how the concept of chief health strategist is defined, how it works, and how public health leaders can rethink their approach to be more effective in their communities.

ASTHO, with support from CDC, launched the first cohort of the Linking Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and Clinical Outcomes Data Multi-Jurisdiction Learning Community in October 2021. This brief examines themes that emerged from conversations in the learning community about the challenges encountered during data linking activities and discussed lessons they learned.

This brief draws on health officials’ experiences in territories and Freely Associated States to illustrate opportunities to lead improvement efforts by building relationships, committing to data use, establishing regular communication, and investing in workforce development.

In collaboration with CDC, ASTHO launched its EPHT Fellowship Program to support state and territorial health agencies without dedicated federal funding in building tracking capacity. This brief shares solutions from Delaware and Kansas that other states and territories can explore in their jurisdictions.

The Key Role of Cross-Sector Partnerships in Navigating Barriers Keon Lewis Community partnerships are critical to public health's mission to promote optimal health for all — learn more. Public health departments’ mission and vision statements often share certain values and goals aimed at improving the public’s well-being. Rather than just reactively responding to immediate health threats as they come, public health departments aim to take a more proactive approach through strategies that prevent the future spread of diseases, injury, or other incidences of harm. These actions support their visions of creating communities where all residents can thrive and achieve their full health potential. Strong community partnerships are critical to public health departments’ ability to fulfill their goals. Recognizing this, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation introduced the Culture of Health Framework in 2015. As a leading national philanthropic organization focused on dismantling barriers to optimal health for all, the framework’s foundation is built upon the following action areas: Making Health a Shared Value. Creating Health. More Equitable Communities. Strengthening Integration of Health Systems and Services. Fostering Cross-Sector Collaboration. The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath underscored the factors that created challenges to health outcomes for underserved communities; it also demonstrated the importance of sustaining strong cross-sector partnerships. Public health’s ability to align its goals with the community it serves is vital to efforts to save lives. This alignment allows public health departments to leverage the diverse resources and lived experiences that community partners bring. Recognizing the unique concomitant relationship that it has with government funding, public health departments are now going to have to pivot their strategies to achieve their missions. As public health departments experience budget and personnel cuts, its ability to promote optimal health for all and mitigate the social determinants of health is now even more reliant upon the strength of collaborative partnerships. The Public Health Paradox Public health has always been a component of our nation’s health care system, which primarily reflects specific health issues that have impacted our communities. Rather than focusing on the foundational issues that exacerbate these long-term gaps in underserved communities, government systems often allocate funding based on specific diseases or chronic health issues impacting community health. Although diseases and chronic health issues are significant public health elements that need to be addressed, there are significant nonmedical factors that play just as vital a role in influencing community health outcomes. Identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and adopted by CDC as the social determinants of health, these variables — which include elements such as social and community construct, economic stability, and education access — have become the central driving force of public health. “The Public Health Funding Paradox,” an article from Sage Journals, offers a great perspective on how an intriguing paradox has been created due to this relationship between public health and government systems. The article underscores the complexity of governmental funding that helps to advance public health strategies while there still exist harmful policies that create barriers for certain communities. The Flint water crisis in Michigan demonstrated this paradox. Flint citizens experienced lead poisoning and death from Legionnaires’ Disease, underscoring how a community’s ability to thrive can be quickly impacted by economic difficulty and leadership decisions made by the accompanying government. The Power of Partnership Public health has long had to combat a barrage of stigmas and policy hurdles. Even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health departments were not only in contention against the virus but also against the influence of viral misinformation that questioned their practices, strategies, and purposes. Despite these barriers, the nation witnessed the power of true cross-sector partnerships. Health care and grassroot organizations quickly found common ground to help address the needs of underserved populations. From addressing food insecurity to mental health and transportation barriers, communities successfully pivoted toward hope and found ways to save lives. Nonprofit organizations also created innovative and impactful peer-to-peer funding models that enabled them to fulfill their missions in spite of budget cuts. During this time, community health workers became a vital public health resource. As conduits between departments and local communities, community health workers became a necessary element to re-reestablishing trust in systems and care. Although the work of frontline workers and support staff served a critical role in mitigating the future spread of COVID-19, advocates and allies at the grassroots level also played an invaluable role in promoting health for all. As “The Public Health Funding Paradox” demonstrated, public health departments are only as effective as their accompanying government systems. If the leadership within these respective systems fails to align and empathize with their public health counterparts, then as a community we inevitably repeat a vicious cycle that results in poor health outcomes. Identifying Alternative Routes Cross-sector partnerships serve a vital role in enabling public health systems to better serve their communities. Budget cuts and stricter policies have created barriers for local and statewide agencies, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. The ability to develop essential personnel, continue pertinent research, and utilize mitigating practices have been inhibited by these barriers. It has become increasingly evident that, rather than focusing on reactive strategies, public health must go upstream and address the social needs of our communities. With cuts to funding, public health systems have to do more with less, making it more difficult to address diseases and chronic health problems. Working upstream to address root causes of health outcomes is one way to better leverage thinner resources. As our public health systems continue to work diligently to monitor, support, and mitigate community health barriers, there is still more research needed to explore the most effective cross-sector partnership frameworks. Public health’s efforts must remain intentional in developing comprehensive health advisory coalitions, leadership development cohorts, civic and community engagement projects, and paradigm shifts in academic curricula. The leaders and changemakers of tomorrow require growth in their competencies today. Cross-sector partnerships must continue to build their foundations upon systems of trust and transparency. Public and private health systems, the social sector, and other community stakeholders can partner to improve the population’s overall well-being while simultaneously achieving a mutually beneficial “social return on investment.” Public health’s ability to align with the achievement of optimal health for all requires more than just serving on the front line when a crisis occurs — it is critical that these departments must continuing enhancing their collaborative partnerships and community engagement. article yes

Learn how public health leaders can lead through crisis and support their teams in this blog post.

Understanding Digital Accessibility Before the ADA Title II Deadline Emily Lapayowker, Adrianna Evans With the ADA Title II deadline looming, learn how to prioritize and improve digital accessibility on your agency’s website. Digital accessibility ensures the digital world is usable for everyone. And while it is an increasingly prominent topic in public health, there is still much to learn. This resource can help public health agencies understand digital accessibility basics and promote accessible communications for the disability community, which is typically underserved in public messaging. Government Laws and Requirements ADA The Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against and requires equitable access for people with disabilities. ADA’s connection to digital accessibility may not be immediately apparent, but digital accessibility is covered under the large umbrella of equal access to public areas that ADA guarantees. In fact, Title II of ADA enforces digital accessibility compliance by requiring state and local government websites and digital tools be accessible to people with disabilities — the Department of Justice has announced a compliance deadline of April 24, 2026, for jurisdictions of 50,000+ people and April 26, 2027, for smaller entities. Sections 504 and 508 Section 504 of the 1973 (Vocational) Rehabilitation Act requires any entity that gets federal funding to provide equal access to electronic information technologies for people with disabilities. Section 508 requires the federal government to meet those same standards. These sections were initially written in 1998 and then updated in 2018 to include requirements for mobile technology. WCAG Is the Industry Standard The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization that establishes open web standards. WCAG is currently in its second version. When evaluating compliance, there are three different WCAG conformance levels: A (lowest), AA (middle), and AAA (greatest). Interestingly, W3C recommends that all web-based information aim to hit AA because it is not possible for some types of content to reach AAA compliance. WCAG 3.0 is currently in development and expected to be a major paradigm shift. POUR Principles WCAG standards are principle-based, which means that rather than requiring all web browsers to meet a specific technical standard, WCAG requires that digital content adheres to the POUR principles. All four principles focus on the user’s experience: Perceivable: All information must be presented in a way that ensures users can perceive it using at least one of their senses. Operable: A website is considered operable if all users can effectively navigate it, even those who employ assistive technology, such as screen readers. Understandable: This is a two-pronged principle — users must be able to understand how to use a site and understand its content. Robust: Content must be robust enough that multiple technologies, including assistive devices like screen readers, can interpret it. These laws and guidelines are minimally prescriptive to promote longevity. Remaining principle-based rather than tech-based means these standards will not become obsolete as technology advances. Where and How to Make the Biggest Impact Health agencies can make small changes to digital content in a few key places that will make a world of difference for users with visual, hearing, physical, and cognitive disabilities. Some examples include emails, PDFs, website and social media content, and staff resources. Link Smart and Sparingly Screen reader technology allows low-vision users to navigate webpages and other digital content in a variety of ways. One is by jumping from link to link without referencing the content around that link. So, make your linked text descriptive enough to stand on its own. Also, avoid typing out URLs whenever you can — screen readers will read aloud the URL as phonetically as possible, which is not a great user experience. Additionally, when a screen reader reaches a link in the content, the software will announce it. Use links sparingly to avoid major disruption to the reading experience, as over-linking can make it hard to keep track of the content. Use the Built-In Text Styles Document hierarchy is another essential part of accessibility remediation. The built-in font styles, such as headers and lists, are for more than just aesthetic — screen readers use these styles to navigate Word documents, PDFs, and webpages. Use headers in order (i.e., never skip a heading level), and deploy ordered and unordered lists thoughtfully. For example, if you list specific steps in a process, use an ordered list. If you list symptoms of a viral infection, an unordered list is a better fit. Use Color and Contrast Correctly Do not rely on color alone to convey important information, because users with low vision or colorblindness may have trouble differentiating between different colors or shades. Best practice is to use additional visual markers to signal the presence of important information and ensure there is at least a 3:1 contrast ratio for graphics. Follow Alt Text Best Practices Screen readers read alternative text (or alt text) to allow users with visual or specific cognitive disabilities to understand the content and purpose of an image, table, or informational graphic. Some alt text best practices: Be succinct. The ideal length is between a few words and a couple of short sentences (use the average length of a post on X as a guide, about 250 characters). The goal is to be brief but still convey the image’s vital information. Avoid phrases like “image of” because screen readers will identify all images as such, which makes this redundant. The context around the image is just as crucial as the alt text. If there is already a detailed description of a virion’s shape in the document's body, repeating all that information in the alt text is unnecessary. Not all images convey information. In those cases, it’s important to use null alt text, which will let assistive technology know that the image is decorative. To do this, either add “decorative” in the alt text field, or mark it as decorative in the platform, if that option is available. When creating complex images such as charts or graphs, communicate what the graph is telling users rather than just what it looks like. Learn More There is a whole world to learn about within digital accessibility, but there are resources and experts to help. You can connect with internal experts on your IT team or external disability and accessibility organizations for support. You can also learn more about digital accessibility at the following resources: Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act by U.S. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division Section 508 (Federal Electronic and Information Technology) by U.S. Access Board What Is Plain Language? by Plain Language Action and Information Network Constructing a POUR Website by WebAIM WCAG 101: Understanding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines by Level Access Glossary of Disability-Related Terms by University of Washington Accessibility Online by Great Lakes ADA Center Related Content-Blog - DELPH Magazine 4 article yes

How Staffing and Workload Can Impact Public Health Agencies Kelsey Tillema Public health is combating burnout and high turnover by focusing on key practices to improve workforce infrastructure—learn more in this blog post. Public health agencies often face significant challenges managing workforce priorities related to staffing and workload. While these issues are not new, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of retaining the public health workforce as a critical component of emergency response. A lack of capacity to manage an agency's workload can create a toxic cycle, often negating any impact of positive organizational culture improvements. In turn, productivity diminishes, turnover increases, and the remaining workforce suffers. To combat this pattern of inadequate staffing and attrition, a robust combination of effective recruitment, timely hiring practices, equitable workload policies, pay considerations, and skilled leadership to champion changes are essential. With one in three public health employees considering leaving their organizations within the next year—citing pay, work overload and burnout, lack of opportunities for advancement, stress, and organization culture as top reasons for leaving—retaining employees in public health has never been more important. As demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of solid workforce infrastructure and workload imbalance among health care professionals and public health employees can have disastrous consequences for the workforce and overall public health. According to an analysis by the de Beaumont Foundation, “state and local health departments need to hire a minimum of 80,000 more full-time equivalent positions (FTEs)—an increase of nearly 80% —to provide adequate infrastructure and a minimum package of public health services.” As challenges and uncertainties continue to arise in an ever-changing public health landscape, quickly filling open positions and retaining current public health professionals is a key strategy to ensuring a healthy workload balance among teams and programs. Timely recruitment and hiring practices, creative recruitment strategies, broader job requirements and qualifications, as well as conducting capacity and project prioritization assessments can help alleviate stress and burnout that existing employees may experience due to open roles or understaffing. Chronic understaffing and delays in filling positions can contribute to stress, burnout, and higher turnover due to employee dissatisfaction. While an agency can have meaningful organizational culture and well-being initiatives in place, understaffing and workload imbalances can quickly counteract these efforts if not addressed quickly. Policies such as providing additional pay to employees who are taking on extra duties due to unfilled positions, cross-training or cross-skilling across duties and/or programs, assessing team and individual workloads, as well as providing avenues for staff to work toward promotions when taking on work that isn’t normally part of their role can motivate employees who are asked to take on more than their job description outlines. One such framework in discussion at North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services is a creative take on a career ladder—called a “career honeycomb.” In contrast to the ladder framework that typically reflects straight upward career growth, the honeycomb is a bi-directional opportunity to look at career development from various angles. The desire is to increase employee retention and satisfaction by providing avenues for staff to receive bonuses or other incentives for taking on extra work, earn “points” toward specific career milestones or promotions, be recognized on various platforms by their colleagues and leadership team, and embed their workforce development plan and mentorship program opportunities into the various “cells” of the honeycomb. This kind of creative thinking is an innovative way to holistically address both the agency’s and individual’s needs and strengthen overall workforce development. When understanding and implementing effective hiring policies and ensuring equitable workloads across a public health agency, human resource and workforce development/well-being teams are a crucial component. An internal team that is dedicated to assessing employee capacity, hiring and promotion policies, well-being, and overall organizational culture can help mitigate burnout among staff, lower turnover rates, and ensure wise use of resources. By continuously evaluating both the staffing needs and the overall health of the organization, HR and workforce development professionals can foster an environment that attracts and retains top talent, leading to improved job satisfaction and agency performance. The relationship between staffing, capacity, and workforce culture in public health agencies is undeniable. Ensuring that there are timely and efficient recruitment and hiring practices in place, equitable workload policies, and advancement opportunities can foster a healthy and effective workforce. These efforts must be supported by a dedicated team of workforce development and human resource professionals who regularly focus on assessing and addressing workforce staffing, capacity, well-being, and organizational culture. By prioritizing these internal needs, agencies can break cycles of burnout and turnover to create a resilient and capable workforce that effectively responds to public health challenges. OE22-2203 PHIG article yes

Learn about the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion in public health—three pillars that are crucial to building healthier societies.

Colorado's New Online Mentorship Initiative Supports Local Public Health Agencies Elise Moore Learn how CDPHE developed an online mentorship program to enhance local public health leadership, with tips for other health departments. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) launched their Athena Success Partnering program, an online staff mentorship initiative for local public health agencies. CDPHE's Office of Public Health Practice, Planning, and Local Partnerships (OPHP) developed the program as part of its Executive Director Learning Pathways project, which supports those leading local health agencies in Colorado—especially after many of those leaders faced intense scrutiny during the pandemic. CDPHE used Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) funds to procure the software to support its online mentorship programs. Several different entities in CDPHE are now using the software for mentoring initiatives, including programs for new hires, human-centered leadership, and peer support. In addition to the Athena Program, OPHP uses the software for a peer connection program for Colorado Chief Medical Officers. Development and Launch of the Mentorship Program An Executive Director Advisory Group helped guide OPHP’s thinking around the options and elements to include in its online mentorship program for local health agencies. The Athena Program provides new and experienced executive directors and emerging leaders the opportunity to form supportive peer relationships for skill development, confidence building, networking, effective agency leadership, and supporting retention efforts. OPHP started by focusing on local public health agency executive directors and has recently opened the program to all Colorado local public health agency staff. The program offers a series of steps or prompts to guide mentors and mentees, with content to last for a year of regular meetings. Some of the automated prompts include ice breakers and questions about communication, goal setting, and leadership. Additionally, the platform has a learning section where users can find articles and resources related to professional development. Participants use the platform for traditional mentoring, and to connect with colleagues with expertise in specific areas. Users can ask questions or request mentorship for specific time-sensitive problems or learning needs. They can also join role-specific groups, such as planners and emergency preparedness and response and resiliency staff. OPHP notes that it took time for staff to develop new habits for using the platform for questions and resource sharing and that some executive directors did not feel qualified enough to become mentors to other executive directors. To address some of these challenges, OPHP created resources and opportunities for users to understand the program's benefits, including a monthly newsletter. In one edition, OPHP outlined reasons to become a mentor—addressing the benefits, time investment, preparation guidance, and qualifications to be a mentor. Program Receives Positive Response Both mentors and mentees in the Athena Program have expressed positive outcomes and benefited from their relationships. Broomfield County Executive Director Jason Vahling shared that he benefitted from the mentor experience. “Initially, I was signing up to be a mentor, but I feel like, at times, we switch back and forth between being the mentor and mentee and learn from each other. It has been great to have a partner outside the metro area to get insights and learn from." Mentorship Platform Evaluation Plans As the program continues, OPHP is using quantitative and qualitative data (e.g., participation counts, user surveys, and key informant interviews) to assess participant engagement. Program administrators are also assessing supports and barriers to participation and whether participation in the mentorship program is helping build essential knowledge and skills in implementing best practices for core public health services and foundational capabilities, management and leadership, and staff support and retention. OPHP’s Advice on Planning an Online Mentorship Program For health departments seeking to build their mentorship platform, OPHP shared a few tips: An advisory group was valuable for program planning. Talk to potential participants about their needs, as these may vary. Be patient and take the long view. Demonstrate how the program benefits both mentors and mentees. Provide various options for engaging with mentoring, peer support, and group interaction opportunities. Future Plans for Strengthening Staff Expertise CDPHE plans to continue leveraging PHIG funding, as well as their academic health department partnership with the Colorado School of Public Health, to offer a program to prepare participants to successfully take the Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam and earn certification with a pilot beginning in January 2025. PHIG recipients interested in learning more about Colorado’s experience can reach out to the team at ophp@state.co.us. Special Thanks-Blog - Colorado's New Online Mentorship Initiative Supports Local Public Health Agencies OE22-2203 PHIG website yes

This collection highlights pieces from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer that best exemplify Marcus Plescia's contributions and expertise in his role as a leader at ASTHO and in public health.