Self-paced trainings

Health in All Policies: Who, What, Why, How

Cost: Free (CE is $10)

• This recorded training is the first in a series and will provide an overview of Health in All Policies (HiAP) and walk participants through case studies from a city health department. Participants will learn strategies for implementing HiAP and incorporating equity into the discussion as a necessary component of HiAP work. This training includes a mix of didactic presentation, case study presentations, and reflection activities.

Health in All Policies: Examples from Practice 

Cost: Free (CE is $5)

• This recorded training is the second in a series and will provide additional examples of Health in All Policies (HiAP) work being implemented on a local level. In this second and final session, participants will learn about HiAP through a “big P” and “little p” policy lens and resources for implementing HiAP into their work. This training includes a mix of didactic presentation, a case study presentation, and an activity to engage participants in the discussion.

The Power of Policy: 10 Tips for Getting Things Done in Public Health

Cost: Free

• The authors of Policy Engagement, Shelley Hearne, Keshia Pollack Porter, and Katrina Forrest, joined forces for a 1-hour webinar where they detailed best practices for moving evidence into action through policy. During the webinar, they shared top tips, real-world examples, and actionable strategies for getting things done in public health.

ASTHO Communications Trainings

Cost: Free

• ASTHO has collaborated with a former New York Times journalist with over two decades of experience to offer three media training videos that can be viewed at your convenience. The 12-minute recordings cover media interview best practices, space preparation and interview tactics, and digital strategies and best practices.

Communicate to Make a Difference

Cost: Free

• This series includes five modules on Cross Cultural Communication. The first course, "Exploring Cross-Cultural Communication" invites learners to spend time thinking about and developing their own responses to a variety of ideas and situations about culture, communication and public health. "Communicate to Make a Difference: Practicing Cross-Cultural Communication" is a collection of case studies that examine the practical application of the "Ten Strategies for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication," as described in the "Exploring Cross-Cultural Communication" course. These four modules can be taken in any order.

Communicating and Disseminating Evidence to Decision Makers

Cost: Free

• In this online module, participants will explore effective strategies for communicating evidence to decision-makers and acquire tools and resources to create and disseminate messages about evidence-based solutions on different platforms for diverse audiences. Also, included is guidance for writing and disseminating policy briefs.

Communicating for Change: Strategic Communications for Public Health

Cost: Free

• This free training is designed to provide a foundation in strategic communications for public health professionals. In this course, participants will walk through the layers of strategy needed to craft a strategic communications plan.

Communication Planning as a Sustainability Strategy

• When it comes to engaging audiences in your prevention efforts, communication can be your greatest asset. Using a well-designed, strategically developed communication plan, you can become your own best prevention program champion. By educating and inspiring your local community on your work, you can increase fundraising potential, activate allies and partners to bolster your efforts, and sustain your prevention program long-term.

• In this training, we will explore seven key components of a communication plan. Along the way, we will explain how each component can play a role in sustaining your prevention initiatives. You will apply what you have learned to your work by building a communication plan from the ground up, so come to the training with your prevention program in mind!

Effective Communications

Cost: Free

• This course focuses on improving health professionals’ competency in communication strategies and tactics and understanding the attributes of a successful communication program. The training also explores risk communications and the natural tension that exists between what health agencies want and need to communicate and what the public wants and needs to understand. Finally, the course provides a general overview of the importance of helping employees and the public through change.

Effective Communication for Environmental Public Health

Cost: Free

• Do you find yourself struggling to communicate your public health message? This 90-minute online course is designed for public health professionals, especially those responsible for implementing environmental health programs. It introduces key communication strategies to help field workers successfully educate the public about environmental public health issues, communicate important environmental health information to diverse audiences, resolve conflicts, and market the value of environmental public health activities to clients and the public.

Foundations of Health Communication

Cost: Free

• Foundations of Health Communication is a series of self-paced, on-demand courses that address the need for communication training. Effective communication skills are essential to the public health workforce’s efforts to collaborate with partners and teams, educate policymakers, convey messages during an emergency, or take action in other ways as we work to build healthier communities.

Fundamentals of Communicating Health Risks

Cost: Free

• The CDC Office of the Associate Director for Communication offers this course to help public health practitioners improve or learn new communication skills for conveying risk to the public. This course focuses on the common issues and situations that public health communicators face when deciding how to convey everyday public health risks. We hope this course inspires you to continue learning and refining your communication skills.

Infodemiology Training Program

Cost: Free

• The Infodemiology Training Program is designed for epidemiologists, program evaluators, coordinators, communications staff, and other public health professionals. The flexible training modules will give you the basics on infodemiology and the applied skills to help improve public health by tracking, analyzing, and responding to trending narratives.

Introduction to CLAS (culturally and linguistically appropriate services)

• Culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) enhance service quality for all individuals, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity. Addressing well-documented health inequities in our nation, CLAS is one strategy that helps eliminate these disparities by tailoring services to individuals' cultural and language preferences. Health services that respect and respond to diverse patients' beliefs, practices, and needs can improve health outcomes.

Marketing in Public Health

Cost: Free

• Whether you are managing a single program or an entire public health department, understanding the basic branding and marketing principles can be crucial to your success. Every program and organization has key stakeholders. The goal of this course is to offer concrete strategies for communicating with those stakeholders in order to support your broader program and organizational goals. Continuing Education available.

Public Health Communications Collaborative Academy

Cost: Free

• The Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) Academy is a free training hub to support public health communicators around the country. The Academy equips public health professionals with the confidence and competence to communicate effectively with their communities.

Public Health Data and Learning Center

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on communicating effectively about data. Topics include understanding and engaging an audience, persuasive communications, communications strategies, and more. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. 
  • An Overview of Public Health Reaching Across Sectors
  • Building BRIDGES: Understanding Our Position in Multi-Sector Communication
  • Building Inclusive Data Visualizations
  • Communicating to Different Personality Styles
  • Cooperative Communication
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume II: Communicating Effectively
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume III: Visualizing Data Stories
  • Using Message Framing Tools to Build and Sustain Cross-Sector Partnerships 

Relationships and Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Workplace

Cost: Free

• Almost all activities in the workplace take place in the context of relationships. Relationships are built and maintained, bettered or worsened, through communication. Interpersonal communication skills are core competencies for those who are in charge of accomplishing the work of the organization. This training will focus on communication and relationships between supervisors and supervisees in behavioral health organizations. Participants will learn components of, and tools for, effective communication to help support successful relationships in the workplace.

Strengthening Public Health Communications through Community Engagement

Cost: Free

• Community engagement is vital for public health communicators for building trust and credibility, understanding community needs, promoting a sense of ownership and participation in healthy initiatives, and fostering collaboration.

Technical Writing Courses

• This collection of courses and learning resources aims to improve your technical documentation. Learn how to plan and author technical documents. You can also learn about the role of technical writers at Google.

Telling Your Prevention Story 

Cost: Free

• Storytelling is a powerful tool to share your community's prevention efforts with others. Through storytelling, a community coalition, non-profit, local organization, etc. is able to capture the audience's attention through experiences, words, and emotions. In turn, storytelling can lead to impactful changes in a community. In this module, you will learn best approaches to storytelling as well as gain skills to craft your own community's prevention story.
• We strive to host inclusive and accessible events that enable all individuals, including those with disabilities to engage fully. Please let us know of any accommodations that will assist your full participation.

Understanding and tackling misinformation and disinformation

Cost: Free

• In this increasingly digital world, misleading or false information can have serious consequences, including negatively influencing public attitudes and health behaviors, and undermining public health efforts. This course introduces misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) and explores its origins, how it spreads, the harm it can cause, and how to prevent and manage it.

• The course contains three modules: the content module, a resources module, and an evaluation. After finishing all three modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard.

• The entire training is expected to take 25 minutes to complete. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected].

Write Effective Learning Objectives

Cost: Free

• This activity will provide the knowledge and tools training developers need to create SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound), well written objectives for learners, setting the stage for training development.

Community-Based Participatory Research: A Partnership Approach for Public Health

Cost: Free (or $35 for continuing education)

• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organization representatives, and academic researchers in all aspects of the research process.

  This course was developed by the Detroit Urban Research Center and was originally released in 2009. Given its success as a foundational course, updates were made in 2017 for this new, web-based version.

Community-Based Policy Development: Lessons from the Field

Cost: Free

• This training was created to assist public health workers navigate policy change. Merrill Eisenberg will help public health advocates understand the policy-making process at the state and local levels and to use this understanding to plan policy action to benefit the public's health.

Idea to Legislation: A Step-by-Step Roadmap to Enacting Practical Health Policy

Cost: Free

• Follow the journey of LymeTV’s Tick JEDITM youth tick education program – from public health educational concept to successful legislative advocacy effort. The narrative serves as a model for scaling community activism to achieve meaningful policy adjustments for a broader population. 

ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) and Data (Part 1)

Cost: Free

• This video is Part One of DASH’s free four-part webinar series on Asset-Based Community Development. This webinar was presented on March 22 by Darryl Answer and Ron Dwyer-Voss, as well as their DePaul colleague Indigo Bishop. The webinar drew on DASH’s set of ABCD workbooks as well as other ABCD research and practice.

Asset Framing in Community Data Ecosystems 

Cost: Free

• The Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) Framework highlights the key domains of shared multi-sector data landscapes and is available to guide communities to leverage their data ecosystem for equitable systems change.

• In this webinar from the 2023 CIE Summit, we dive deeper into how equity, as a process and outcome, intersects with data ecosystems and the data infrastructure that is built to unlock the power of data ecosystems toward social good.

Basic Principles of Privacy Risk in Public Health

Cost: Free

• This course is aimed as an introduction to de-identification and privacy risk assessment. The course consists of two lessons: “Introduction to HIPAA Privacy & De-Identification” and “Understanding Direct and Indirect Identifiers”. If the basics covered by the two lessons in this course are well understood, then individuals can proceed directly to courses 2 or 3 as applicable. Courses 2 and 3 are coming soon! Anticipated release in January 2025.

• The intended audience for this training is state, territorial, local, and/or tribal (STLT) Applied Epidemiologists, Statisticians, Analytical Staff or similar individuals.

• All content was developed and delivered by Dr Colin Moffatt, Dr Daniel Barth-Jones PhD, MPH and Dr James Janisse PhD.

Broader Ethical Considerations for Hazards and Disaster Researchers

Cost: Free

• This module focuses on broader ethical considerations for research. It describes how researchers can navigate ethical landmines while developing a flexible and robust ethical toolkit for researching hazards and disasters.

Collecting and sharing perishable data

Cost: Free

• This module defines perishable data and provides recommendations to address ethical and logistical challenges for collecting and sharing this type of data after disasters.

Conducting Emotionally Challenging Research

Cost: Free

• This module defines emotionally challenging research and highlights the ways that recognizing researchers’ emotions can lead to more ethical and methodologically sound research practices in the context of extreme events.

Data Available to Public Health Professionals

Cost: Free

• In this course, we'll discuss data sources available to public health professionals. We will discuss the most common data sets that are most commonly used in public health assessment, describe their characteristics and how they are used in assessment activities, and describe where you can access them. While the examples used in this course are from Washington State, most of the data sets are fairly standardized across states, and you should be able to find their equivalents by searching online for your state's data.

Data Interpretation for Public Health Professionals

Cost: Free

• Do you find the thought of interpreting public health data intimidating? This narrated course introduces the terms used to describe the public's health and provides a basic competency in reading and presenting data. If you've ever looked at terms such as confidence interval or p-value and wondered what they meant, this course is for you.

Data for Rural Health Equity, Vol. I: Understanding Population Health Concepts

Cost: Free

• This module is the first in a three-part series that is designed to help you use data to identify and address health disparities in your community. In this module, we will look at how to use data to connect social determinants of health to health disparities in a community.

Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume II: Communicating Effectively

Cost: Free

• This module is the second in a three-part series that is designed to help you use data to identify and address health disparities in your community. In this module, we will look at how to communicate data to audiences in your community.

Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume III: Visualizing Data Stories

Cost: Free

• This module is the third in a three-part series that is designed to help you use data to identify and address health disparities in your community. In this module, we will look at how data visualization techniques can help you communicate health information and tell a story to different audiences.

Data State of Mind Online Modules

Cost: Free

• Being data literate has taken on a whole new meaning with the influx of information you interact with daily. Data has such power and influence when it is applied effectively to address a public or behavioral health issue. This self-paced online training offers practical, easy-to-apply information so that you learn how to question and critique existing data, as well as identify, collect, and analyze data. The objective of this training is to help you bring public and behavioral health data to life so you can become a responsible data citizen, using data to create positive change in the communities where you work.

Data Visualization for Performance Improvement Learning Series

Cost: Free

• This data visualization for planning and performance improvement learning series is designed to support public health agencies to increase knowledge of data visualization principles and techniques. Using specific examples of charts and graphs, these modules illustrate why it is essential to know your data, find the patterns, and tell the story to advance your agency’s priority projects. The topic-specific modules will include existing ASTHO resources and recommended partner resources. The full series promotes broad use of data visuals in public health and covers the following:
  1. Data Visualization Matters
  2. Data Visualization: Changes over Time
  3. Data Visualization: Differences in Outcomes
  4. Data Visualization: Complex Comparisons

GET PHIT

Cost: Free

• The professional development courses offered by GET PHIT were developed based on a needs assessment of Texas public health agencies. The professional development courses are online only and self-directed. Although participants will need to register, the education will be offered at no charge for the duration of the grant (until September 2025). Continuing education certificates will be awarded upon the completion of each unit.
  • Introduction to Public Health Informatics: This course will introduce learners to the field of health informatics as applied to the multi-disciplinary study of public health. Concepts from computer science and information science will be used to show how informaticians enrich our understanding of health administration, epidemiology, environmental science, and social and behavioral sciences. Learners will be introduced to the field's history, key terms and concepts, applications of informatics in public health, and common informatics software. 
  • Health Data Science: This course introduces methods in health data science – defining the problem, accessing, and loading the data, formatting into data structures required for analysis. This course covers the basics of computational thinking to define a computational solution, methods to access healthcare data from a variety of sources (EHR data, UMLS, Medline, etc.), and in different data formats. The students will apply methods for data wrangling and data quality assessments to structure the data for analysis. The students will be introduced to basics of design and evaluation of algorithms and application of data structures for healthcare data. The course will use Python programming language and basic python libraries for data sciences such as numpy, scipy, matplotlib and pandas. This course is not an introduction to programming, and not a course to improve programming skills. Students are expected to have some experience with introductory / beginner level Python programming.
  • Public Health Analytics: This course aims to establish the foundations of public health analytics to transition data from information to knowledge and actionable wisdom. National data standards, data sources, data management, and approaches to analytics relevant to public health will be covered. This course builds on a foundation of statistics, basic analytics, evidence-based practice, and implementation science.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Procedures and Extreme Events Research

Cost: Free

• This module introduces users to IRB procedures and provides advice regarding how to work with IRBs to ensure ethical approaches to extreme events research.

Overview of Public Health Data

Cost: Free

• Hone your public health assessment skills with Overview of Public Health Data. This 30 minute online course takes you through the basic information to use data in public health's core functions.

Positionality in Hazards and Disaster Research and Practice

Cost: Free

• This module describes the concept of positionality in the context of hazards and disaster research and practice. It highlights how understanding your own positionality–or how your different identities shape your perceptions, interactions, and experiences–can lead to more ethical and methodologically sound disaster work.  

Presenting Public Health Data

Cost: Free

• Public health practitioners who work with data need to present their findings in a way that is easy to understand and clearly emphasizes what they consider to be the most important results. In this course, you will learn some of the most common ways to present data visually. You will also see how to choose the right format for presenting your data, and learn some basic good practices for producing well-designed graphic displays of data.

Public Health Data Learning Center

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on promoting data equity and data analysis in public health. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. Course names include:
  • Addressing Rural Health Disparities with Data
  • An Anti-racist Imperative for Public Health Data
  • Centering Racial Equity in Data Use
  • Data Analytics for Health: Utilizing Large Social Media Data
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume II: Communicating Effectively
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume III: Visualizing Data Stories
  • Data Science and Predictive Models in Public Health
  • Decolonizing Data to Address Missing and Murdered Womxn
  • Encoding Useful Information from Clinical Free-Texts Using Natural Language Processing
  • How Do You Center Racial Equity Throughout the Data Life Cycle?
  • How Not to Use Data Like a Racist
  • Leading Change in Informatics and Data Analysis
  • Predicting Inpatient Deterioration: From Quality Improvement to Research
  • Preventative Medicine Grand Rounds - Big Data Analytics and Applications in Public Health
  • Public Health 101 Series - Introduction to Public Health Surveillance
  • Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics 

Public Health Implications of Hazards and Disaster Research

Cost: Free

• This module is designed to help users identify and explain to others how hazards and disaster research can help improve the health of disaster-affected populations.

Reciprocity in Hazards and Disaster Research

Cost: Free

• This module focuses on the reciprocal relationship between researchers and disaster-affected people and communities with an emphasis on ensuring that research is beneficial for participants as well as the research community.

The Utah Healthy Places Index

Cost: Free

• This 30-minute training offers instruction on how to use The Utah Healthy Places Index. The Utah Healthy Places Index (HPI) is a powerful and easy-to-use data and policy platform created to advance health equity through open and accessible data. It's an evidence-based and peer-reviewed tool that can help support efforts to prioritize equitable community investments, develop critical programs and policies across the state, and much more.
• Neighborhood-by-neighborhood, the Utah HPI maps data on social conditions that drive health — like education, job opportunities, clean air, and other indicators that are positively associated with life expectancy at birth. The Utah HPI is a tool developed by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Public Health Alliance of Southern California, creators of the California Healthy Places Index™.

Adult Learning Theory

Cost: Free

• This course provides an introduction to adult learning theory and a practical exercise to support future training development and delivery. 

Building Better Training

Cost: Free

• If you want to build a better training from start to finish, check out the new tools and resources from CDC's Training Development website. Analyze your training need with the six-step guide to determine if training is the solution to a performance gap.  If training is needed, a needs analysis using the checklist on this page, can help ensure your training will build the knowledge, skills, and abilities of your unique learners. After your training is over, postcourse and follow-up evaluations provide feedback to check if the training met your program's needs. With this flexible evaluation template, you can gather information about your learners immediately after the training ends or as delayed follow-up, to make decisions about future trainings. You can find help with both the Analyze and Evaluate phase of training development with these new tools and resources. 

DEAL Session 1: Best Practices for Developing Quality Distance-based Training

Cost: Free

• Dynamic Education And Learning (DEAL) is designed for public health professionals who want to elevate the quality of the distance-based trainings they develop and deliver. The series covers training planning, promotion, implementation and evaluation. Although much of the content is developed with distance-based training in mind, many concepts can also be applied in in-person trainings as well. Session 1 covers key terminology, e-learning standards, best practices and unique considerations for engaging in the distance-learning environment.  

DEAL Session 2: Developing a Strong Foundation for Your Training

Cost: Free

• Session 2 covers how to define and learn about a target audience, develop learning objectives, create appealing titles and descriptions, and ways to promote training offerings. 

Deal Session 3: introduction to Technology for Teaching and Assessment

Cost: Free

• Session 3 covers technology tools and the selection of appropriate strategies and technologies for teaching and assessment.  

Deal Session 4: How to create Engaging Webinars and Interactive Slideshows

Cost: Free

• Session 4 covers webinars and interactive slideshows, and discusses the value of interaction in adult learning and how technology can be used to engage learners. 

Deal Session 5: Developing Training Evaluations

Cost: Free

• Session 5 covers methods of evaluation, Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation, effective survey questions, and strategies of data collection. 

Write Effective Learning Objectives

Cost: Free

• This activity will provide the knowledge and tools training developers need to create SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound), well written objectives for learners, setting the stage for training development.

9-1-1 and You: Preparing Bystanders for Emergencies

Cost: Free

• In this three part training, we will cover the basics of calling 9-1-1, and recognizing and responding to stroke and cardiac arrest. Each module will include practical tips and activities for sharing this life-saving information with the older adults in your family and community, particularly those for whom English is not a preferred language.

Disaster Behavioral Health

Cost: Free

• Many public health workers are confident in their ability to handle the physical tasks involved in responding to a disaster, but what about the psychological challenges? In this one-hour online course, Randy Beaton, PhD, EMT discusses the psychological phases of a community-wide disaster, common patterns of immediate and long-term public response, mental health risks that rescue workers and victims face, signs that might indicate that a survivor needs a mental health evaluation, and the importance of local preparedness. The course bases its case studies on Washington State agencies and plans.

Emergency Distribution of Pharmaceuticals

Cost: Free

• During an emergency, public health workers may be called upon to help dispense medicine or medical supplies. Find out what is involved in the process of mass dispensing of medications, vaccines, or other medical supplies. This one-hour online course outlines situations in which mass dispensing is necessary, and discusses the logistics of providing medications to large populations.

Emergency Medical Dispatch Simulation

Cost: Free

• Emergency Medical Dispatch Simulation is a training to provide 9-1-1 telecommunicators with a realistic, low-stakes opportunity to practice responding to medical calls. Participants listen to recorded callers and then select questions to help them understand the medical emergency and give appropriate prearrival instructions.

Emergency Preparedness for Community Health Workers

Cost: Free

• This 10-hour series is designed to prepare community health workers to take an active role in disaster response and recovery in their communities.

• This includes an introduction to Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (PHEPR) and PHEPR Science, the importance of collaborative disaster response, understanding the social determinants of health and individuals most vulnerable during disasters, developing a comprehensive disaster communication plan, and caring for oneself and others.

Emergency Preparedness Leadership Series

Cost: Free

• This series will help you develop leadership skills for emergency preparedness and response. It includes a brief video giving an overview of emergency preparedness leadership, as well as courses on three key topics for leadership during times of crisis: managing change, making decisions, and communicating risks. You may take each of the courses individually and receive a certificate for each one. If you choose to complete all three courses, you can also receive a certificate for the series as a whole.

Emergency Preparedness Training Webinars (scroll towards the bottom)

Cost: Free

• Access 1-hour trainings on strategies and resources available to support workforce well-being (for all front-line staff and leaders). Webinar topics include:

• • Emergency preparedness planning refresh
  • Cyber security for community health centers
  • Engaging and strengthening partnerships
  • Crisis standards of communication
  • Supporting community health center staff through sustained emergencies
  • Communicating the business case for emergency preparedness.

Emergency Risk Communication

Cost: Free

• If you work in public health, during a crisis or emergency, you will likely become a risk communicator, even if your job description does not include public information or media relations. Effective communication is vital to protect the community's health. Communication with the public and the media in an emergency presents unique challenges. People are highly emotional. They want to know what happened and who is responsible. Most importantly, people want to know what they can do to protect themselves and their loved ones. Yet the unexpected and chaotic nature of emergencies often makes it difficult to answer the public and the media's demand for information and reassurance.

Indigenous Sovereignty in Disasters

Cost: Free

• This module focuses on Indigenous sovereignty and how it can help build resilience to hazards and disasters.

Mass Gatherings: Are You Prepared?

Cost: Free

• Food poisoning at the fair, rabies exposure at the rodeo, crowd trampling at a World Cup game: what is the role of public health at events that attract large crowds? This online course teaches you to assess and plan for the prevention and mitigation of public health threats at mass gatherings. It covers topics of risk assessment, surveillance, health response, coordination, and communication. This online course includes a unique practice scenario to further enhance your learning.

Social Vulnerability and Disasters

Cost: Free

• This module focuses on vulnerability to hazards and disasters, with an emphasis on population groups that have been identified in the literature as especially at risk to the adverse effects of extreme events.

Analysis and Interpretation of Public Health Data, Part 1

Cost: Free

• In this course, you will begin to understand how to analyze and interpret data for public health purposes. This course focuses on how to use data to answer assessment questions. It also reviews some of the basic epidemiology and statistics underlying assessment and introduces you to the concepts of some frequently used measures in assessment.

Analysis and Interpretation of Public Health Data, Part 2

Cost: Free

• This course is the continuation of Analysis and Interpretation of Public Health Data, Part 1. In this course, we’ll look at when to use different measures of health events for community health assessment, and explore how to confirm that the data are reliable.

Applied Outbreak Investigation

Cost: Free

• Developed by the Colorado Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence (CoE), Applied Outbreak Investigation training is an intermediate-level course designed to teach epidemiological skills during a foodborne outbreak investigation. This course is designed for state and local public health agency staff who may be involved in foodborne outbreak investigations.

Basic Infectious Disease Concepts in Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• Are you a public health worker with little or no knowledge of epidemiology who would like to know more? This narrated, one-hour course introduces the concepts and principles of infectious disease in epidemiology. By the end of this course, you'll be familiar with infectious disease agents and transmission characteristics, epidemiologic methods, and vaccination and other control measures.

Cause and Effect in Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• Determining the cause of a disease or the positive effect of a health activity is an important part of decision-making in public health. But how do we know if something actually does cause a disease or improve our health? Inferring causality is a step-by-step process requiring a variety of information. In this course, Dr. Victoria Holt discusses seven guidelines to use in determining whether a specific agent or activity causes a health outcome. She illustrates each guideline with a public health example.

COVID & Non-COVID Communicable Disease Investigation Training Catalog

Cost: Free

• Summary: Looking for training to support your learning in communicable disease response work? The trainings listed in this course catalog is updated on an ongoing basis, so check back for new additions. Trainings in this catalog have been mapped to the Strategic Skills for Public Health Professionals and grouped by common themes below.
• View the topic areas below to see a list of relevant trainings:
  • Data-Based Decision-Making and Management
  • Contact Tracing / Interviewing (History Collection)
  • Effective Communication
  • Epidemiology Concepts
  • Communicable Disease
• This course catalog includes learning opportunities from the CDC and the Public Health Learning Network.  

Every Contact Counts: Contact Tracing for Public Health Professionals

Cost: Free

• Contact tracing is a proven way to slow the spread of contagious diseases and a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19. In this course you will learn about the components of contract tracing, such as interviewing individuals infected with the disease, identifying close contacts they may have exposed, and providing those contacts with the information they need to monitor their health and prevent further spread of the illness.

GET PHIT: Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• This course will introduce learners to the basics of epidemiology, including methods and research designs. In addition, we will discuss how to obtain large datasets; how to assure that the data are appropriately “matured,” and how data and information systems can be used to understand public health issues in populations.  

Introduction to Outbreak Investigation 

Cost: Free

• West Nile virus! Beef recalls! Contaminated spinach! We live in an age where disease outbreaks are commonplace. This one-hour online course outlines specific steps to take in determining if you have an outbreak on your hands, who should be involved in the investigation, the science behind it all, and how to communicate your findings to the public via the media.

Introduction to Public Health Surveillance

Cost: Free

• Surveillance is a key function of public health, but what does it mean? This course introduces public health surveillance concepts and principles for public health workers who have little or no prior training in epidemiology. You'll learn about surveillance systems in local, state, and national public health practice and how these important systems are used in tracking diseases and other public health threats.

Introduction to Syndromic Surveillance Methodology

Cost: Free

• The Introduction to Syndromic Surveillance Methodology Course provides new syndromic surveillance analysts and analyses consumers with foundational knowledge to interact with and use syndromic surveillance data. Over the course of three lessons, learners will explore common data sources and methods to create syndromes, consider expanded syndromic surveillance utility to a diversity of public health surveillance needs, and discover communication tactics translating syndromic surveillance data to public health action. These courses are designed to provide pre-requisite knowledge before learning specific software tools.

Measuring Risk in Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• A study reports that smokers face a relative risk of dying from lung cancer 24 times higher than non-smokers, and a relative risk of only 1.4 times higher for dying of heart disease. How important are these differences? If you have no idea, then the course Measuring Risk in Epidemiology is for you. The course introduces key measures of risk, shows how they're calculated, and discusses how to interpret them when you encounter them in reports and news stories.

Public Health Data and Learning Center: Boots on the Ground. Part 1: Foundational Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on fundamental concepts in population health data. Topics include the core functions and essential services of public health, public health informatics, public health surveillance, and more. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. 

Screening in Public Health Practice

Cost: Free

• Screening is a critical tool that can save lives, improve health outcomes, and can even help public health practitioners make tough decisions about how to allocate limited resources. In this one-hour online course, you will learn what screening is, how to select an appropriate screening test and administer it, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of your screening program for your patients.

Study Types in Epidemiology

Cost: Free

• Epidemiologic case-control studies are used to identify factors that may contribute to a medical condition. Epidemiological studies are categorized as either descriptive or analytic. This course describes the main elements of descriptive and analytic epidemiology and their associated study types briefly and clearly. In addition to case-control studies, you'll also learn about eight other commonly used study types, including the basics of each type of study and how each is used.

What is Epidemiology?

Cost: Free

• Have you ever wondered what epidemiologists do? This narrated, 45-minute course offers an overview of the purposes and uses of epidemiology in public health practice. It introduces concepts that are described more fully in our other online courses on epidemiology, and is a good place to start if you plan to take the nine-part series on epidemiology.

Advanced Program Evaluation

Cost: Free

• Learners will take on the role of a staff member at the Middleton County Health Department who is tasked with helping to develop an evaluation plan for an obesity-prevention program recently launched in Middleton County. Using the CDC Program Evaluation Framework, learners will connect each step of the framework with a section of the evaluation plan, going into detailed discussion about: incorporating stakeholders, logic models and evaluation questions in the process; characteristics of different research designs for evaluation and considerations for choosing an appropriate design; options for data collection methods and sampling; and thinking through threats to validity. Additionally, the learner will review strategies for conducting rigorous evaluations within constraints of budget, time, and resources.

Data Collection for Program Evaluation

Cost: Free

• This online course teaches you how to collect the evidence you need to determine your public health program's impact. These skills allow you to uncover successful and less successful program components and provide information to inform program continuation or the development of other programs. Data Collection for Program Evaluation is a three-hour course, divided into five parts that can be taken over several sessions.

Evaluation

Cost: Free

• In this 1.5 hour module you will learn how to evaluate evidence-based public health programs. We will cover the basic components of program evaluation, including study designs, measurement approaches, and ways of using and sharing evaluation results.

Evaluation Essentials for Non-Evaluators: Understanding the Basics and Benefits of Evaluation

Cost: Free

• Submitting a proposal to the National Science Foundation Advanced Technical Education (ATE) program can be overwhelming. One of the many proposal requirements involves submitting a detailed evaluation plan of your project activities. This webinar is designed for project PIs, staff, grants professionals, and other non-evaluators new to evaluation or those who want a basic refresher. We will cover the fundamental concepts of what evaluation is, why it is important, and how it can benefit your project. In addition, we will share practical strategies for finding and selecting an evaluator for your proposal, including what to do if your institution doesn’t allow the selection of an evaluator before your grant is awarded. While this webinar is geared towards those submitting NSF ATE proposals, the content will benefit those submitting proposals in other NSF programs or STEM education contexts. Bring any and all questions about evaluation!

Evaluation for Public Health Informatics

Cost: Free

• This course, hosted by the Council of State and Territory Epidemiologists, addresses different methods of evaluation for public health informatics.

Expanding Your Repertoire: A Crash Course in Evaluation Approaches

Cost: Free

• When it comes to evaluation, one size does not fit all. This webinar is designed to help project teams and evaluators discover various evaluation approaches. In this webinar, we’ll explore three distinct evaluation approaches – each offering unique perspectives and strategies for gathering and interpreting data. You’ll learn how to recognize, compare, and choose the best approach for your project by considering factors like client needs, available resources, and practical dimensions that set evaluation apart from research. Whether you’re new to evaluation or looking to expand your skills, this crash course will provide practical insights and resources to enhance your evaluation practice. Join us to expand your repertoire and make more informed, impactful decisions in your evaluation work.

Introduction to Economic Evaluation in Public Health 

Cost: Free

• The one-hour Introduction to Economic Evaluation in Public Health course provides a broad overview of economic evaluation methods with illustrative examples from public health. It will help the learner understand and apply economic evaluation findings to their public health work.

• All components of the course when launched must be completed before TRAIN will capture completion and issue a certificate.

• Course content includes a description of the main economic evaluation methods, including their uses and summary measures; explains the benefits of economic evaluation methods for public health decision-making; and explains key economic evaluation concepts, including program time frame, analytic horizon, and study perspective.

• The primary audience for this introductory course includes public health practitioners, program managers, policy analysts, program evaluators, and health scientists. Project officers, policy researchers, and communications staff may also benefit from the course.

Introduction to Policy Evaluation in Public Health

Cost: Free

• The two-hour online Introduction to Policy Evaluation in Public Health course, designed for public health practitioners, introduces the learner to the use of policy evaluation in public health and provides specific instruction on applying evaluation methods throughout a policy process. Instructional content describes what “policy evaluation” is and will enable the learner to have a better understanding of how to apply the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Evaluation Framework to conduct an evaluation of adopted policies that may impact public health.

• All components of the course when launched must be completed before TRAIN will capture completion and issue a certificate.

Practical Evaluation Using the CDC Evaluation Framework—A Webinar Series for Asthma and Other Public Health Programs

Cost: Free

• The National Asthma Control Program, in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, has created a four-part Webinar series on program evaluation basics. Nationally recognized experts present a general introduction to program evaluation; note challenges in conducting useful evaluations as well as methods for overcoming those challenges; and introduce the six steps of the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation using examples that are relevant to state partners of the National Asthma Control Program.

  • Webinar 1: Top Roadblocks on the Path to Good Evaluation – And How to Avoid Them

  • Tutorial 1A: Focus On: Walking Through the Steps and Standards

  • Webinar 2: Getting Started and Engaging Your Stakeholders

  • Webinar 3: Describing Your Program and Choosing an Evaluation Focus

  • Tutorial 3A: Focus On: Thinking About Design

  • Webinar 4: Gathering Data, Developing Conclusions, and Putting Your Findings to Use

  • Tutorial 4A: Focus On: Data Collection Choices

  • Tutorial 4B: Focus On: Using Mixed Methods

  • Webinar 5: Evaluation Purpose Informs Evaluation Design

Practical Strategies to Interpret Evaluation Findings

Cost: Free

• In a world driven by data, the power of evaluation comes from our ability to weave data points into a story that meaningfully answers our project’s questions. The interpretation of evaluation findings is a crucial step in the evaluation process that turns analyzed data into useful evaluative conclusions. The process of interpretations extracts valuable insights that can help project staff understand project impact and make informed decisions.  In this webinar, we will focus on practical strategies to interpret evaluation findings that inform meaningful project improvements and assess overall effectiveness. These strategies include comparative analysis against historical or baseline data, benchmarking against national datasets, and participatory sense-making sessions. This webinar is for project leaders and staff who are looking to make the most out of their project evaluations and evaluators who are looking to increase the transparency and utility of their evaluation conclusions.

Program Evaluation in Public Health

Cost: Free

• Your public health program is up and running but how do you know if it's paying off? This self-paced module can help you determine just that! First, you will receive some background on program evaluation—who, what, when, and why—and then you'll be taken through the steps to plan and conduct an evaluation. As you move through the module, you'll follow Joe Jones, an environmental public health manager, as he evaluates his food safety program. You'll see the evaluation process in action and learn how a successful evaluation can help you do your work even better.

Program Evaluation the CDC Way: An Overview for Epidemiologists

Cost: Free

• CDC and CSTE partnered in 2018 to provide a webinar training series on evaluation. The objective of the series was to utilize the steps and standards of CDC's Framework for Program Evaluation for creating and implementing evaluation and performance measurement plans that are practical, useful, and feasible. The speaker for each lesson is Thomas Chapel, MA, MBA. Thomas Chapel has been CDC’s first Chief Evaluation Officer since 2011, but for more than a decade before that was helping CDC programs and partners build their capacity to do better evaluation, performance measurement, and strategic planning. Tom and his staff in the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation (OPPE) set guidelines and standards, provide training and customized facilitation, run networking sessions and roundtables, and assign and manage a pool of 40 Evaluation Fellows and a cadre of about a dozen outside SMEs.

TDH Making Evaluation Work for You

Cost: Free

• Evaluation is a practical skill that is designed to help make programs work better and to ensure allocation of resources to effective, high-quality programs and interventions. Essentially, evaluation is centered around determining the worth and effectiveness of the program being evaluated.

• This module is a practice-oriented course that is designed for public health practitioners, project directors, and program staff who are interested in developing applied skills in the field of health program evaluation. It is also useful for individuals seeking a better understanding of the language and mechanics of evaluation.

• Key concepts of evaluation science will be explored including a review of common types of evaluation, why and when to use qualitative or quantitative evaluation methods, and how the use of logic models can improve program planning and evaluation. Tools are included for uses within your own work setting and resources are available to further your learning experience.

• This module was approved for Certified in Public Health (CPH) continuing education credits by the University of Memphis School of Public Health, an approved provider by the National Board of Public Health Examiners. One hour of CPH Recertification Credits may be earned through viewing this module.

• Content created by UMSPH

Using Rapid Qualitative Analysis for Efficient and Effective Project Evaluation

Cost: Free

• First-hand accounts from students and faculty involved in ATE projects provide compelling and significant evidence of impact. Many interest holders find evaluations more credible when quantitative data is complemented by qualitative narratives. However, qualitative analysis can often seem daunting, especially for those with limited evaluation budgets. This webinar will offer practical insights into rapid qualitative analysis methods and explore innovative technologies, including AI, to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of qualitative evaluation.

Federal Grants Management Training Series

Cost: Free

• The Federal Grants Management Training Series is a self-guided training series that provides grantees with the information needed to assist with the successful and compliant management of federal grants and cooperative agreements. The training series consists of 3 modules:

  • Module 1: Federal Grant Basics

  • Module 2: Notice of Award, Award Budget, and Subrecipients

  • Module 3: Federal Grant Management

• The goal of this training series is to help public health organizations understand roles and responsibilities in federal grant management and how to be good stewards of their federal awards. The accompanying Reference Guide is a detailed companion to the training series, providing further information on how to manage a federal award as well as links to additional resources. Both the Reference Guide and audio transcripts are screen reader compatible.

Grant Management 101 Toolkit

Cost: Free

• Module 1 - Grant Writing 101: Develop goals, objectives, and activities
• Module 2 - Grant Budgeting 101: Download our budget detail worksheets
• Module 3 - Grant Management 101: Administration, accounting, compliance, and reporting
• Additional Resources: Helpful links, websites, and books
• The Grants Management 101 Toolkit provides tools to enhance your grant writing skills and provides guidance on developing your goals, objectives, and activities. Once you receive funding you can use the toolkit for information on how to manage your budget, methods to link to goals and outcomes, and ways to fulfill post-award policies and reporting requirements.
• Our pre-award and post-award step-by-step instructions put you in an optimal position to win the grant and manage it successfully. Designed to be self-paced and self-directed, you can click on the information you need when you need it.
• Pre-award activities include writing the proposal, developing the budget, compiling the application documents and submitting your application. Post-award activities include administration, accounting, compliance, and reporting.

Show Me the Money! Effective Strategies for Identifying and Writing Winning Grants

Cost: Free

• Public health practice depends on funding to function. This training focuses on understanding, identifying, and securing funding to meet your organization’s strategic needs. Strategic grant writing aligns the needs of organizations with funding sources, whether foundations, government agencies, corporations, or individuals. This webinar offers an introductory-level guide to the basics of strategic grant writing and how to successfully identify, plan, and write winning grants. It also outlines the components included in every grant proposal and highlights grant writing best practices, tips, tools, and resources to support your grant writing efforts.

• Tom Stevenson is a freelance grant writer and consultant with a 14-year record of success in winning federal, corporate, and foundation funding for nonprofit organizations at the state and local levels. He has extensive experience working with diverse community organizations including Youth Empowerment Project, Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for Greater New Orleans, Odyssey House Louisiana, Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans, Acadiana, Center Point, Inc. in San Rafael, CA, and other award-winning nonprofit organizations. With his expertise in completing strategic prospect research, writing compelling proposal language, strategic program planning, and data collection, Tom has won more than $17M in winning grants for local organizations and nonprofit clients. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English Writing from Loyola University, a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and currently resides in the New Orleans, LA area.

Tribal Grant Writing Training

Cost: Free

• Prepare for your next big grant with our online training and resources. These tools will help you write American Indian/Alaska Native grant proposals and/or to train others to do so.

  • Increase the knowledge of grant proposal development
  • Teach how to write a good abstract
  • Understand what is going to be done for the grant and grant evaluation

• Our grant writing training is designed specifically for tribes and tribal organizations to:

• These materials cover a lot of grant writing information in depth. Please allow at least 2 days or more to cover all the material available.

Advancing Health Equity Through Power Building and Narrative Change

Cost: Free

• To bring health equity to life in our work, we need to understand the role power plays in transforming our society’s racial, class, and gender structures — the structures that create health inequities. Power takes shape in how communities organize for their own well-being (sometimes called ‘building community power’), it takes shape in the cross-sector alliances we build to influence the political agenda, and it takes shape in how we think and talk about what’s possible to achieve (sometimes called ‘public narratives’).
  In this 1-hour webinar, Jonathan Heller and Ana Tellez from Human Impact Partners will discuss how these elements of power can be harnessed to operationalize health equity in public health practice. The interactive training will include Midwest-specific examples of health departments taking on narrative change to advance health equity as well as an overview of HealthEquityGuide.org, a resource tailored for governmental public health organizations.

An Anti-racist Imperative for Public Health Data

Cost: Free

An Equity-Guided Approach to Public Health for Leaders at All Levels

Cost: Free

• This course will teach you the definitions, value-driven actions, and further learning needed to develop your leadership approach to health equity. You’ll think about applying the actions and skills in your scope of influence.  Over time, developing your equity-guided approach will allow you to incorporate health equity principles into public health strategies and programs, and increase engagement and partnership. Continuing Education available.

Calling In, Not Calling Out

Cost: Free

Connecting Compassion and Technology: How Website Accessibility Boosts Visibility and Search Engine Optimization

Cost: Free

• Discover the basics of website accessibility and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as Dr. Amanda Diver, a Physical Therapist turned website developer, shares expert insights and practical strategies in this webinar. Amanda will guide attendees to identify areas for improvement and implement effective strategies to enhance compliance and search engine rankings. Continuing Education available.

Cross-Sector Leadership and Health Equity (Podcast)

Cost: Free

• This podcast is a panel discussion of the collective impact as a framework for guiding cross-sector partnership. 

Culturally Competent Public Health Practice for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Populations

Cost: Free

• In 2016, the National Institute of Health, Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) reported that 15% of American adults had reported some form of trouble hearing. In parallel to this is the growing concern over the lack of interpreters and how this affects the health field and medical service providers. With an obvious chasm in communication, the need for culturally relevant information is evident.

• This training will present tools and knowledge for working with the deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as common misconceptions about deaf culture and sub-cultures within the community.

Designing Data Dashboards Using a Health Equity Lens

Cost: Free

• The Designing Data Dashboards Using a Health Equity Lens course prepares data teams and their agency to build their understanding of data visualization’s role in Public Health. Data visualization can be a useful tool to present and share public health data in an easy-to-understand format. Data dashboards can provide public health leaders with a summary of their jurisdiction’s public health data and can be used for public health decision making. This course is intended to provide an overview on how to strategically plan and use data visualization and data dashboards to present public health data and promote health equity. In this module, learners will:

  • better understand why data dashboards are important for public health decision making,
  • be given suggestions on how to build your agency’s data visualization capacity and develop a strategic plan and implementation strategy for a data dashboard,
  • learn important data visualization and data dashboard best practices based on examples from state, territorial, and local public health agencies,
  • be provided with recommended next steps for their agency’s data visualization journey.

Equity in Motion: Moving Beyond the Conceptual Into Actionable

Cost: Free

• Keynote from PHSAD's 35th annual Minority Health Equity Conference, Equity in Motion
• Gyasi C. Chisley will present about his background as an African-American Healthcare Executive Leader and navigating the complexities of ascending the corporate ladder in the United States. Additionally, Gyasi will expound upon the respective inequities he encountered throughout the duration of career and his solution-oriented approach for tangible change.

Foundations of Health Equity Self-Guided Training Plan

Cost: Free

• Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Health Equity (OHE) developed the Foundations of Health Equity training plan to facilitate foundational knowledge and skill development on health equity, health disparities, and structural and social determinants of health (SSDOH). This training plan contains thirteen trainings that cover six health equity-related domains, including organization policy, infrastructure, communication, community engagement, SSDOH, and anti-racism. The trainings were curated to help build competencies in these domain areas. To learn more about the domains and competencies aligned to the training plan, download the PDF, Foundations of Health Equity Competencies

• The Foundations of Health Equity training plan can benefit individuals who are new to health equity or may want to learn about new concepts and approaches.

• Evaluation and Certificate of Completion: Completion of at least one training per domain and the completion of the overall training evaluation form are required for completion of the training plan. Participants are asked to complete the evaluation form to help OHE assess the effectiveness of and to make improvements to the training plan. Once completed, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion.

• Disclaimer: The views expressed in the materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services. Courses listed in the training plan were selected through a subject matter expert review process from the vast amount of health equity-related courses available on CDC TRAIN and other sources. These courses do not represent all the high-quality health equity-related trainings available on CDC TRAIN or other sources nor are they inclusive of all definitions and concepts available related to health equity. Some courses and materials are hosted on non-federal sites. Linking to a non-federal site does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the site. You will be subject to the destination site’s privacy policy when you follow the link. CDC cannot verify the accessibility (508 compliance) of resources on non-federal sites.

GET PHIT: Health Equity

Cost: Free

• This course will introduce learners to the field of health equity and train students to critically understand how the nature of data collection, interpretation, and use shape health outcomes. Students will review approaches used to detect and reduce health disparities among various groups of individuals across the global sociodemographic spectrum. 

Healthcare Access for People with Disabilities

Cost: Free

• This training addresses a practice gap in health professionals’ knowledge, skills, and ability to meet the health needs of patients with disabilities. Most health professionals report feeling unprepared and uncomfortable with disabled patients. Learners will come away from this training with a better understanding of disabilities, the health and healthcare disparities associated with disabilities, and specific strategies to accommodate patients with disabilities in health settings.

Health Equity in Dementia — Using a Public Health Lens to Advance Health Equity in Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias

Cost: Free

• This interactive online course addresses health equity in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias from a population-based, life-course approach to reduce risk and ensure that everyone can live their best life after a diagnosis. Create an account and "Add to Cart" to begin the free, interactive module.  

Health equity training plan

Cost: Free

• This Health Equity Training Plan, curated by the Public Health Foundation (PHF), can benefit individuals who would like to build on their foundational knowledge of health equity or those who are familiar with the Foundations of Health Equity Training Plan and want to explore more advanced content within each of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Health Equity’s six Health Equity Domains and Competencies: policy and organization policy, infrastructure, communication, community engagement, structural and social determinants of health, and anti-racism.

• In addition to the Health Equity Training Plan, PHF developed a training plan for individuals interested in exploring the integration of health equity concepts with specific topics, populations, or programs: Health Equity Training Plan – Applying Health Equity to Specific Topics.

• These training plans have been developed in collaboration with the CDC Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce and the Office of Health Equity. Updated September 2023.

Health equity training plan--Applying health equity to specific topics

Cost: Free ($5 for CE credit)

• This Health Equity Training Plan – Applying Health Equity to Specific Topics, curated by the Public Health Foundation (PHF), can benefit individuals who would like to build on their foundational knowledge of health equity or those who are familiar with the Foundations of Health Equity Training Plan and want to further explore integration of health equity concepts with specific topics, populations, or programs.
• In addition to this Health Equity Training Plan – Applying Health Equity to Specific Topics, PHF developed the Health Equity Training Plan for individuals who want to further explore more advanced content within each of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of Health Equity (OHE) Health Equity Domains and Competencies: policy and organization policy, infrastructure, communication, community engagement, structural and social determinants of health, and anti-racism.
• These training plans have been developed in collaboration with the CDC Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce and the Office of Health Equity. Created September 2023.

How to be Anti-Racist in the Everyday Practice of Public Health

Cost: Free

• Each day, we have opportunities to fight racism and bias in our work in public health. From our hiring practices to microaggressions that occur in internal meetings to the data we collect to the policies we influence, enact, and enforce — racism and bias impact all facets of public health. Studies show that this ultimately causes a negative impact on health outcomes and hinders our efforts to reduce racial inequities in health.
• Through a hypothetical case study, following the day of a local public health practitioner, this training explores: 1) The myriad ways that racism and bias can be operationalized in the everyday practice of public health; 2) Why being explicit about microaggressions, bias, and racism is foundational to eliminating racial health disparities; and 3) Practical strategies for addressing racism, bias, and microaggressions as essential aspects of everyday practice in public health.
• Continuing Education available. 

Implicit Bias: Using Brain Science to Understand Science to Understand, Recognize, and Counter It

Cost: Free

• Many of our communities and organizations are seeking to understand how stigma and discrimination interacts within our system and personal behaviors, and distorts individual and public health outcomes. This has created a focus on Implicit Bias and Diversity and Inclusion trainings, however the research shows us that spotting unconscious bias in your own mind, in the moment, is almost impossible. So how do we change our biases, and our behaviors? Join us to explore and challenge implicit bias by working with the architecture of the brain, not against it. Continuing Education available for an additional cost.

Introduction to Equity Impact Assessments: PHIG

Cost: Free

• This interactive public health training series introduces attendees to the importance of Equity Impact Assessments. Throughout the sessions, we will build a foundational understanding of equity, explore key concepts for utilizing these tools, and review different types of tools. Additionally, we will focus on the practical application of Equity Impact Assessment tools, showcasing real-world implementations to highlight their value in promoting equity in public health interventions, policies, and organizational practices.

• This course is open to all and funded by the Public Health Infrastructure Grant. Completion of additional demographic questions is a requirement for attending this no-cost course.

Introduction to Health Equity and Racial Justice

Cost: Free

• By grounding health equity work in a clear analysis of the root causes of inequities, we are better equipped to identify the strategies required to achieve health for all. This recorded webinar will serve as an introduction to exploring a racial justice and power framework as a way to center equity in organizational practices. Continuing Education available for an additional cost.

Public Health Data and Learning Center

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on promoting data equity. Topics include collecting, reporting, and analyzing social determinants of health (SDOH) data, decision-making for equitable distribution of health resources, and more. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. Course names include:
  • Addressing Health Equity: A Public Health Essential
  • Addressing Rural Health Disparities with Data
  • Advancing Racial Equity Webinar Series
  • An Anti-racist Imperative for Public Health Data
  • Building Inclusive Data Visualizations
  • Centering Racial Equity in Data Use
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume II: Communicating Effectively
  • Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume III: Visualizing Data Stories
  • Decolonizing Data to Address Missing and Murdered Womxn
  • How Do You Center Racial Equity Throughout the Data Life Cycle?
  • How Not to Use Data Like a Racist
  • Public Health Essentials in Action Online
  • Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics 
  • Understanding Population Health Concepts

Race as a Social Construct in Data and Practice

Cost: Free

Racism, Bias, and Other Determinants of Health: Issues and Actions

Cost: Free

• During this webinar we will discuss racism and social determinants of health, and the role bias plays in healthcare decision making as well as its impact on adverse health outcomes. We will discuss how our backgrounds inform our perspectives and how we relate to colleagues and patients. We will also explore strategies that students and physicians can employ to mitigate bias.   

Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Historical Impact of Population Health Disparities and Finding a Path Toward Equity

Cost: Free

• Health equity—the state in which everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible—is a pressing need and identified priority that state and local health departments are currently trying to address with additional resources and efforts across the country. However, before we can implement effective tools for change, we must first understand the historical context and generational trauma that structural and systemic racism has created. This inequality causes unjust barriers to health, wealth, and resources and continues to plague many communities today with a direct impact on health. This webinar will discuss the practices and policies put in place to specifically disadvantage certain populations throughout history with a higher burden of disease, injury, and violence, and what the public health workforce can do today to improve opportunities for everyone to achieve optimal health. 

Fostering a Culture of Immunization in Your Practice

Cost: Free

• Vaccination is important at every stage of life because it provides essential health benefits and contributes to individual well-being and public health. On-time vaccination throughout childhood is essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. Despite the importance of adult vaccination, at least 3 of every 4 adults are missing one or more routinely recommended vaccines. Routine immunization of adults greatly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic as fewer people received preventive care, exacerbating already low adult vaccination rates. Disruptions during COVID-19 due to reduced reported enrollment and school response rates, also led to decreased routine immunization rates for children.

• This CE activity features a renewed emphasis on practical strategies for all healthcare workers to help create a culture of immunization to ensure the best possible care for patients and the promotion of vaccination efforts. Strategies to deliver clear and concise vaccine recommendations and address patients’ frequently asked questions for pediatric and adult primary care practices, specialty practices, pharmacies, and other patient settings, are included. By highlighting key points before, during, and after a patient’s visit to support vaccine conversations, this presentation will reinforce best practices for improving vaccination rates.

ASTHO's Change Management eLearning Course 

Cost: Free

• Learning Objectives: As a result of completing the learning modules you should be able to:
  
  • Define change.
  • List the stages of change.
  • Assess organization readiness for change.
  • Outline best practices in change management.
  • Identify guiding principles and key roles of a leader in the change management process.
  • Discuss Kotter’s 8-Step and 4 Principles to Accelerate Change.

Business Planning for Public Health Programs

Cost: Free

• Do you need a new approach to generating revenue? Do you have a program that you want to continue after your grant runs out? Then business planning may be the answer. This online course helps you understand the basics of business planning and determine if writing a business plan is appropriate for your public health program.

Change Management - Using the ADKAR Model for Individual and Organizational Change

Cost: Free

• Continuing Education: 1 CE

• Summary: What is the ADKAR model and how is it used effectively to manage change in your public health organization? his course introduces the idea of change management, specifically the ADKAR model. This model can be used by public health leaders to ease the process of change within an organization and increase the likelihood that changes will be successfully implemented. Learners will have the opportunity to use a real health department scenario to apply ADKAR and better understand how it to use it in their own work.

  • After completing the training, you will be able to:
  • Define change management
  • Recognize the steps of the ADKAR model of change management
  • Explain how a collaborative approach can be integrated with the ADKAR model
  • Apply  the ADKAR model in a Health Department case study
  • Discuss the importance of change management to public health practice

Change Management of County and City Health Officials

Cost: Free

• Change Management for Public Health is a 6 module, interactive learning course that is informed by field experts and is supplemented by examples and stories from local health departments. The course is designed to introduce key concepts in change management theory and practice while also offering tools, resources, and real public health examples that all health departments can use to adapt the process to their needs.

Coaching Skills

Cost: Free

• As a manager, you wear two hats that can be difficult to manage effectively. On one hand, you have to evaluate your employees and make decisions regarding promotions, demotions, salary actions, and terminations. On the other hand, you are also a coach and an advocate for your employees' success. Employees may be reluctant to be frank and discuss weaknesses or mistakes. While there is no perfect solution, this course will help you understand the problems and provide a strategy to effectively balance these two inherently conflicting roles.

Creating a Healthy and Fair Workplace Culture

Cost: Free

• The COVID-19 pandemic has left its mark in many ways, not least on the way we work and on workplace culture. Employee wellbeing has become a business priority as employees are re-evaluating their work arrangements and purpose in life. It is not clear yet what long-term impact these significant changes will have on the health and wellbeing of employees. Published studies, survey, and assessments so far have produced varying findings.
• Did you know? According to Gartner research in 2021, only 18% of employees indicate they work in a fair work environment.
• This course will help you get ready to address the changes in working arrangements and create a healthy and fair workplace culture.  It will feature many examples of programs and strategies, and also several corporate case studies. We will conclude with a test of competency and leave you with numerous useful resources for continued learning.
• To continue learning more on this topic, after the completion of this training, enroll in "Towards a Healthy Workplace Culture: Management Strategies and Tools”.

Developing Effective Virtual Meetings

Cost: Free

• Unlock the secrets to running effective and engaging virtual meetings with our exclusive masterclass series. Learn the ABCs of virtual meeting mastery and pinpoint specific techniques for engaging participants. Over four dynamic sessions, we will equip you with skills and strategies to transform your virtual meetings into productive and impactful experiences. Each session of this series is designed to provide you with practical, actionable insights and techniques. Invest in your professional development and master the art of virtual meetings. This series has been crafted with epidemiologists in mind: scenarios and examples will be relevant for epidemiologists who lead virtual meetings.

Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health (DELPH)

Cost: Free

• ASTHO and the Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at Morehouse School of Medicine, with funding support from CDC-CSTLTS, have created a new leadership development program titled the Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health (DELPH). This program increases and strengthens participants’ visibility and exposure in public health systems, access to key networks, and leadership development opportunities.
• Our program seeks to achieve this goal by:
  • Empowering participants to be more visible in governmental public health.
  • Expanding access to key networking opportunities for participants.
  • Enhancing participant personal leadership identity. 
  • Creating strategic leadership development plans. 
  • Developing peer support network connections. 
• DELPH was designed to enhance the capacity and strengthen the networks of mid- to senior-level governmental public health professionals from identity groups that are under-represented in public health leadership. Program participants will be selected from experienced public health professionals who self-identify from an underrepresented group, including people of color, disability status, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Effective Management Strategies 1: Tips for the New Manager

Cost: Free

• This panel is the first in a two-part series on strategies for improved management in public health. During this recorded webinar, panelists addressed challenges faced by new managers in supervising staff during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., remote supervision). Panelists discussed ways of creating professional development opportunities and mentorship plans for and with their employees. Participants will also learn strategies to treat staff with a focus on the health and wellbeing of the whole individual, not solely the employee that comes to work.

Effective Management Strategies 2: Mentorship and More

Cost: Free

• This webinar is the second in a two-part series on strategies for improved management in public health. During this live webinar, there will be a discussion around various formats of mentorship programming that can be adapted organization-wide or tailored to work areas. There will be an in-depth look at the most common traditional mentorship architecture and individual professional development plans will also be discussed.

Feasibility Planning for Public Health Business Plans

Cost: Free

• Do you have an idea for a new revenue-generating program or a program for which you want to write a business plan? This online course takes a little over an hour and guides you through the process of creating a feasibility plan, a necessary step before writing a full business plan, to determine whether your idea is worth pursuing. The course covers what to consider when writing your feasibility plan and which sources will provide pertinent information.

• Feasibility Planning for Public Health Business Plans is the second in a two-part series on public health business plans. The first part is titled, Business Planning for Public Health Programs.

Introduction to Process Improvement

Cost: Free

• This introductory ASTHO training outlines evidence-based steps states and territories can use to conduct process improvement work within health agencies to improve business, administrative, or programmatic processes.
  Learning Objectives: As a result of completing the learning module you should be able to:
  
  • Describe the benefits and steps of process improvement.
  • Identify improvement techniques to create efficient and effective processes.
  • Provide examples of resources and tools to support process improvement.

Introduction to Workforce Development Planning for PHAB Accreditation

Cost: Free

• Welcome to the eLearning course Introduction to Workforce Development Planning for PHAB Accreditation. This course is made up of 7 modules designed to assist local health department staff to prepare for the Domain 8 requirements for PHAB accreditation, with a focus on the development and implementation of a workforce development plan.
  
  The 7 modules that make up the course are:
  
  1. Introduction to Domain 8: Maintaining a Competent Workforce (8 minutes)
  2. Getting Started: Top Ten Tips for Planning (11 minutes)
  3. Get to Know the Workforce Development Plan (12 minutes)
  4. Setting a Vision for Workforce Development (10 minutes)
  5. Training Needs: Data Gathering (21 minutes)
  6. Training Needs: Curriculum Creation (12 minutes)
  7. Implementing Your Workforce Development Plan (12 minutes)
  
  Please note that the completion times for each module are approximate. As a self-paced course, individual users may move faster or slower through each module. 

Key Aspects of Financial Management

Cost: Free

• This course covers budgeting and some of the sources of revenue and expenditures associated with health services organizations, including those that provide clinical services. It provides a high level introduction to Financial Management concepts and skills like managing a budget, and it will also expose you to financial performance improvement tools in more depth.

Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills: What is Strategic Planning and How Do I Prepare?

Cost: Free

• This course provides local health departments (LHDs) with guidance around preparing for, and implementing an agency strategic planning process. Separated into two modules, this course offers detailed guidance around the steps in a strategic planning process, practical LHD examples, a description of the Public Health Accreditation Board's strategic planning requirements, and a variety of resources.

Mentoring Matters

Cost: Free

• As the public health workforce changes, mentoring matters now more than ever. In this course, you will explore the roles, responsibilities, and functions of successful public health mentoring programs, with a focus on equity-centered practices. Using scenario-based examples, interactive exercises, and video tutorials, this course provides mentors, mentees, and program administrators with the tools and resources to succeed in mentoring, no matter the size or type of program.

Moving from Team Member to Manager

Cost: Free 

• Continuing Education: 1.75 MCHES Category I CECH, CE and certificate of completion are $6
• Summary: So, you’re a new manager – congratulations! You might be experiencing challenges transitioning from a team member to the manager. This course will use the foundation of adaptive leadership theory and change management to help you examine your own leadership style, create a leadership philosophy, develop a concrete plan to improve team dynamics, and describe an effective approach to having those dreaded difficult conversations. You’ll leave with real-world tools that you can apply to your management approach and your team to ensure a smooth transition from team member to manager.

Planning for Financial Success

Cost: Free

• Funding public health activities can be challenging. This course is designed to help public health professionals pull together the key elements needed to secure funding for public health projects and programs. Using case examples, interactive exercises, and video demonstrations, the course walks participants through the process of responding to governmental and private funding opportunities. A workbook accompanying the online course allows participants the opportunity to apply each step of the process to a project or program in their own organization.

Planning for Success: Managing Business and Finance in Public Health 

Cost: Free

• This 7-part program covers basic financial management and business planning skills designed to help public health workers ensure the success of their organization's long term vision through informed planning and financial well-being. The program consists of seven separate components including a podcast, four self-paced trainings, and two on-demand trainings, each covering different aspects of either financial management or business planning in public health.

Performance Management for Supervisors

Cost: Free

• Performance management is an important piece to a successful workplace. Through performance management, supervisors work together with their employees to help them be successful in their assigned position. This training will focus on performance management skills for supervisors working in behavioral health organizations. Participants will learn components of, and tools for, effective management skills to help their employees succeed in the workplace.

Public Health Data and Learning Center

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on the process of organizational change for people, organizations, and data systems. Topics include stress and resiliency, organizational change management, change leadership, and more. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. 
  • Change Management Principal for Public Health Modernization
  • Change Management: How Leadership Can Support Staff During Crises
  • Embracing the Inevitable: Practical Change Management
  • Leading Change in Informatics and Data Analysis
  • Managing Change: The Essential Leadership Skill
  • Strategic Skills Training Series: Introduction to Change Management

Public Health Recruitment Workshop Series Part 1: Identifying Your Hiring Needs: Who, How Many, Where

Cost: Free

• Health departments have an opportunity to build the workforce of the future through funding sources and to fill vacancies caused by retirements or attrition. Several public health workforce experts discuss ways health departments can use existing resources such as job vacancies, workforce development plans, strategic plans, community health assessments, as well as new resources such as the Public Health Workforce Calculator, to identify specific roles they need to fill, how to demonstrate the need for the positions, and how to prioritize them. We give a specific example of how the calculator can be used, and how to connect the results with specific job descriptions. Finally, we highlight a specific example of how the workforce calculator was effectively used in New York State to expand funding for the workforce.

Public Health Recruitment Workshop Series Part 2: Employer Marketing & Branding for Health Departments

Cost: Free

• Health departments compete with many other employers to recruit new hires. This workshop covers how to develop a positive and attractive employer brand, including developing an employer value proposition, identifying what makes your organization stand out as an employer of choice, and using both rational and emotional marketing terms. We list sources of employer branding touchpoints such as your career website, job boards, employee referrals, career fairs, social media, email campaigns, video and other resources, as well as metrics to use to evaluate effectiveness of recruitment marketing methods. We also cover how to select and build relationships with talent sources to create ongoing sources of applicants, and new resources like the Public Health Job Descriptions project and publichealthcareers.org website.

Public Health Recruitment Workshop Series Part 3: Candidate Experience: How to Keep Top Candidates Engaged in Your Hiring Process

Cost: Free

• What does a job applicant experience when they apply to work at your health department? In this workshop, we cover what makes an outstanding candidate experience, including how to maintain strong communications with candidates, how to ensure diversity and inclusion in your process as well as a fair and transparent hiring process. We walk through steps of the process including pre-application, applications, interviewing, and selection. Talent acquisition specialists from both the Washington State Department of Health and the CDC Foundation share best practices and tips for a streamlined and effective hiring process with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as hiring reforms that have impacted the process.

Public Health Recruitment Workshop Series Part 4: Candidate Experience: Onboarding and Supporting the Public Health Workforce

Cost: Free

• Staff turnover has a high cost. Creating a smooth transition to a new role can help retain new staff. This workshop covers an evidence-based program designed to help new hires acclimate to health departments, gain knowledge and skills, work with a mentor, and support wellbeing to improve retention.

Quality Improvement 101

Cost: Free

• This interactive course teaches the fundamentals of quality improvement (QI) and how to use this methodology to create effective, beneficial change. Lessons and exercises go over important elements such as the model for improvement, Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, implementation and spread. The course is just the beginning for creating a real culture of change that fosters improvement for all.
• The objectives are Quality Improvement 101 are to educate users on the fundamentals of QI, explain the necessary tools and skills involved with QI, and empower users to initiate their own QI work.

Quality Improvement 102

Cost: Free

• Building on Quality Improvement 101, this interactive course provides further insight into the quality improvement best practices needed to create effective change. The course reviews the concepts covered in QI 101, and then gives direction on how to test improvement ideas and increase their impact and effectiveness. Lessons and exercises provide examples of best practices and offer direction on moving from one PDSA cycle to another. The course is the next step in gaining the knowledge to create a real culture of change that fosters improvement for all.

Quality Improvement Learning Series

Cost: Free

• This quality improvement learning series is designed to support public health agencies to increase knowledge of quality improvement principles and introduce QI tools to explain the connection to public health performance management. Four territorial public health agencies share specific examples of using QI tools to advance their agency’s priority projects. The topic-specific modules will include existing ASTHO resources and recommended relevant partner resources. The full series promotes broad use of QI in public health and covers:
  1. QI Principles for Public Health: Back to Basics
  2. QI Key Tools for the Plan Phase
  3. QI Tools for Idea Generation
  4. QI Tools for Prioritization

Recruitment and Retention in Public Health

Cost: Free

• In this course, Dr. Heather Krasna, Associate Dean, Career Services and Professional Development at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, provides a crash course on recruitment and retention of new hires, from start to finish.

Roadmap to a Culture of Quality Improvement

Cost: Free

• A guide to leadership and success in local health departments. Explore change management, foundational elements of a culture of quality, phases of a culture of quality, QI SAT V2.0, develop a QI plan, and quality improvement resources. 

Setting Yourself Up for Success as a Supervisor

Cost: Free

• This training will prepare you for your role as a new supervisor in the public health field. We'll start with tips to get you started in your first weeks on the job, then present ways to develop your supervisory skills over time. You will learn ways to build trust with your team and gain ideas for what to discuss during one-on-one meetings with staff. This training also presents a six part tool that can be used to help employees think about their performance or for your own performance. As your supervisory experience grows, this training will help you consider ways to be more influential in your role. We explain the "Four I's" of transformational leadership originally described by Bernard A. Bass in 1985, which have been used as a guide for countless supervisors to help employees go above and beyond instead of merely completing tasks. 

Strong Culture, Strong Organization: A Public Health Leadership Training Series for Leading in Difficult Times-Part 1

Cost: Free

• This informative and engaging leadership series explores the relationship between organizational culture and the ability of an organization to adapt and respond to external and internal challenges. The two-part self-paced virtual series introduces participants to what culture means in health profession settings, culture diagnosis, values-based and resilient leadership, and makes a case for integrating kindness and appreciation into culture.

Strong Culture, Strong Organization: A Public Health Leadership Training Series for Leading in Difficult Times-Part 2

Cost: Free

• This informative and engaging leadership series explores the relationship between organizational culture and the ability of an organization to adapt and respond to external and internal challenges. The two-part self-paced virtual series introduces participants to what culture means in health profession settings, culture diagnosis, values-based and resilient leadership, and makes a case for integrating kindness and appreciation into culture.

Succession Planning and Workforce Development for Public Health Agencies

Cost: Free

• The Strategic Skills Training Series developed by the Region 2 PHTC aims to help prepare public health leaders and the public health workforce to develop the practices and competencies associated with being a Chief Health Strategist.

• This course describes how health departments can undertake succession planning and workforce development efforts, even during 'VUCA' (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) times, using a case study approach set in the fictitious Tycho County.

Towards a Healthy Workplace Culture: Management Strategies and Tools

Cost: Free

• Build on your knowledge of a healthy and fair workplace culture and learn strategies to make improvements. This course will prepare you to take steps towards improving workplace culture through assessment and management of psychosocial factors key to a healthy workplace culture: psychological safety, meaning and purpose, inclusive leadership, autonomy, flexibility, and fairness.
• Start with our foundational training on "Creating a Healthy and Fair Workplace Culture”.
• Examples of evidence-based interventions and evaluation strategies will be featured in this course.  We will conclude with a test of competency and leave you with numerous useful resources for continued learning.

Life Course Nutrition: Maternal and Child Health Strategies in Public Health

Cost: Free

• There is growing evidence that nutrition and growth in early life--during pregnancy, infancy and childhood--has an impact on chronic disease in adulthood. When state and local public health departments take steps to ensure the nutritional health of mothers and children they invest in the future health of the communities they serve. This online course, based on a life course framework, is designed to help public health leaders describe the role of maternal and child nutrition in population health and identify actions they can take to create equitable access to healthy foods and food environments. By the end of the course you will be able to use the life course framework to design effective nutrition initiatives to improve population health.

Maternal and Child Health Navigator

Cost: Free

• The MCH Navigator has developed MCH Bundles, trainings on key MCH and leadership topics, Training Spotlights, in-depth portals to trainings on specific issues of importance to public health professionals, and Training Briefs, short lists of learning opportunities on MCH topics.
• These learning opportunities have been compiled by MCH Navigator staff and have been reviewed by MCH professionals in the field, public health academics, and health educators.

Addressing Mental Health in Public Health Practice (Program-No CE)

Cost: Free ($10 for CE credit)

• Summary: This 4-part program provides best practices for implementing trauma-informed resilience-oriented principles and suicide prevention strategies.

Disaster Mental Health

Cost: Free

• This module examines mental health outcomes associated with disasters, with a particular emphasis on risk factors that make certain populations vulnerable to poor disaster mental health outcomes over time.

Suicide Prevention Training Series

Cost: Free

• This training series introduces learners to upstream prevention efforts in suicide prevention, with an emphasis on community engagement and data-informed decision-making. After completing a lesson on approaches to suicide prevention in public health, you will work through three modules on mental health and suicide prevention, building prevention partnerships, and approaches to injury and violence prevention.

Understanding and Preventing Burnout among Public Health Workers: Guidance for Public Health Leaders

Cost: Free

• Managers and supervisors can play a big role in reducing and preventing burnout. Public health workers experiencing burnout often feel exhausted and cynical. Working in a distressing environment can strain a person’s physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Workers with burnout are more likely to experience mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Burnout can also impact employee retention. Workers experiencing burnout may be less engaged at work and choose to leave their job or public health altogether.

• Improving workplace policies and practices is the best way to address burnout. While individual-level solutions like self-care and resilience training may help, making organizational changes is necessary. For this reason, managers and supervisors must take action to address this issue.

  • The training is modular, so public health supervisors can fit it into their busy schedules.
  • Each module takes about 15-30 minutes. Modules are organized into three units, for a total of 3.5 hours.
  • Continuing education credit is available at no cost.

• This training is for:

  • Managers and supervisors in state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments

  • Senior leaders, managers, and supervisors in public health-serving organizations

Community Assessment: An Introduction to Community Assessment and Data Collection

Cost: Free

• This course provides an introduction to community assessment, data collection and sharing data findings. It is an introductory-level course designed to build competence in data analytics and assessment as well as community engagement in public health professionals, especially those in the governmental public health workforce. There are no prerequisites.

Community Assessment: Conducting Focus Groups

Cost: Free

• Community assessments use qualitative methods to learn about beliefs, values, and perspectives of needs and assets of a community. Qualitative methods include interviews, focus groups, and forums. The purpose of this course is to introduce focus groups as a method to gain valuable community-level data and provide a practical strategy to plan for, conduct, and analyze the results of a focus group. It is an introductory-level course designed to build competence in data analytics and assessment as well as community engagement in public health professionals, especially those in the governmental public health workforce. There are no prerequisites. 

Community Assessment: Conducting Surveys

Cost: Free

• This course provides an introduction to planning for and conducting community surveys. It introduces concepts and applies knowledge and skills that are essential for planning for and conducting a survey and analyzing and disseminating survey data specifically for the purpose of community assessment.  It is an introductory-level course designed to build competence in data analytics and assessment as well as community engagement in public health professionals, especially those in the governmental public health workforce. There are no prerequisites. 

Community Assessment: Conducting Windshield and Walking Tours

Cost: Free

• This course introduces the components of windshield and walking surveys, explains the data collection and analysis process, and discusses how observational data can be used to inform subsequent phases of the community assessment. It is an introductory-level course designed to build competence in data analytics and assessment as well as community engagement in public health professionals, especially those in the governmental public health workforce. There are no prerequisites. 

Project Planning

Cost: Free

• Good planning can make all the difference in creating a successful public health project. Project planning can be thought of as a series of specific steps, keys to success that will help projects of all types run smoothly and effectively. You don't have to be a project management expert to successfully plan a project. If you carefully think things through and use common sense, your plan can provide a solid foundation for your project and help you make and communicate important decisions.

Kidney Health Coach

Cost: Free

• Are you passionate about preventing kidney disease? Do you enjoy educating others about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle? If so, our Kidney Health Coach program may be for you!
• Kidney Health Coach is the American Kidney Fund's free, community health education program. The online Kidney Health Coach training course provides information about preventing, managing and treating kidney disease, as well as living a healthy lifestyle through a series of four modules.
  • Module 1: Welcome and Kidney Basics
  • Module 2: Chronic Kidney Disease Causes, Symptoms and Testing
  • Module 3: Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease
  • Module 4: Why this Matters and Next Steps
• Free continuing education credits are available.

National Coalition of STD Directors Learning Center

Cost: Free

• The NCSD Learning Center is your space to access self-paced e-Learning courses, blended courses, and live instructor-led trainings on topics ranging from diversity, equity, and inclusion, to leadership skills, to STI/HIV program policy and motivational interviewing.

Safe at Every Stage: Injury and Violence Prevention and the Developing Brain

Cost: Free

• This course is designed to help you understand and plan developmentally appropriate injury and violence prevention efforts that take into account the latest research on brain development. Using examples, interactive exercises, and real data sources, the course walks you through the process of analyzing injury and violence data through a developmental lens to tailor and implement your efforts. It also guides you through connecting with partners and communities to plan and work together on applying this knowledge to injury and violence prevention efforts.

Understanding and Ending Gender-Based Violence in Fieldwork

Cost: Free

• This module examines gender-based violence in field research and provides an in-depth exploration of misconceptions, real life scenarios, and strategies for safer and more gender-just fieldwork practices.

Compliancy Group Online HIPAA Compliance Training

Cost: Free

• HIPAA training is one of the most important aspects of HIPAA compliance. But why is this so? Well, how can employees be expected to follow the HIPAA regulations if they don’t know what they are? HIPAA compliance training provides employees with a HIPAA introduction including how to recognize protected health information (PHI), proper uses and disclosures of PHI, how to keep PHI secure, and how to report a breach of PHI. 

Introduction to HIPAA

Cost: Free

• HIPAA Stands for the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 with the intention of helping to modernize and improve the flow of healthcare information between providers and insurers, as well as lay some standards for safeguarding the personal health information of patients. In the following decades, the rule has been changed and expanded several times.

OSH Academy HIPAA Privacy Training

Cost: Free (a fee may be required to access a certificate of completion)

• The HIPAA law is considered the most significant act of Federal legislation affecting the health care industry since Medicare and Medicaid's introduction in 1965. Healthcare providers and employees should take this important course to receive a summary of key elements of the HIPAA rules.

An Overview of the Foundational Public Health Services

Cost: Free

• The Foundational Public Health Services framework outlines the unique responsibilities of governmental public health and can be used to explain the vital role of governmental public health in a thriving community; identify capacity and resource gaps; determine the cost for assuring foundational activities; and justify funding needs.

Essentials for Supporting Health Departments and Other Governmental Public Health Agencies

Cost: Free

• The goal of the Essentials for Supporting Health Departments and Other Governmental Public Health Agencies training plan is to enhance public health professionals' ability to understand, serve, and support state, tribal, local, territorial (STLT), and freely associated state health departments or their tribal equivalents. The curriculum covers the structures and functions of these agencies, including accreditation, legal powers, and funding. It also provides strategies to strengthen communication and partnerships with health departments.

Evidence-Based Public Health Training Series

Cost: Free

• Today's public health professionals must be able to strategically consider research results, political interests, and community requests when leading program and policy work. The evidence-based public health framework is an effective model for this type of decision-making.

• The Evidence-Based Public Health Training Series consists of nine courses that cover core concepts, such as defining public health issues, conducting community assessments, prioritizing options, and evaluating program and policy impacts. You may take each of the courses individually and receive a certificate for each one. If you choose to complete all nine courses, you will also receive a certificate for the series as a whole.

Foundational Public Health Services eLearning Series

Cost: Free

• The purpose of the FPHS e-Learning series is to increase the successful use of the Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) framework to transform governmental public health, to more equitably and consistently provide core public health services, in all communities across the country. The FPHS are a foundation upon which all other services depend.

Healthcare and Public Health Cybersecurity

Cost: Free

• With its focus on caring for people, the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector touches each of our lives in powerful ways. Today, much of the work the HPH sector carries out is based in the digital world, leveraging technology to store patient and medical information, carrying out medical procedures, communicating with patients, and more. Any disruptions to the HPH digital ecosystem can impact patient safety, create openings for identity theft, and expose intellectual property among other damaging effects.

• To help improve cybersecurity within the HPH sector, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Working Group are working together to deliver tools, resources, training, and information that can help organizations within this sector. Together, CISA brings technical expertise as the nation’s cyber defense agency, HHS offers extensive expertise in healthcare and public health, and the HSCC Cybersecurity Working Group offers the practical expertise of industry experts working cybersecurity issues in HPH every day.

Lyme Disease Continuing Education

Cost: Free

• This four-part series will enable front-line healthcare providers to recognize, diagnose, and treat Lyme disease. The free online curriculum serves as a valuable resource for primary care clinicians, public health professionals, pharmacists, and health educators who encounter patients with Lyme disease. Free Continuing Education credits are available.

Mini MPH for Public Health Professionals

Cost: Free

• The world's health needs are changing - evolving day to day, sometimes even hour to hour. It is the role of public health to investigate pressing challenges and to develop meaningful interventions that improve conditions affecting population health. Through this course created by PHX, and adapted by NEPHTC, local board of health officials in Massachusetts have the opportunity to gain foundational knowledge in public health in order to be more effective health and wellness leaders in their community. Continuing Education available.

Public Health 101

Cost: Free

• The Public Health 101 Series provides an introduction to public health and covers the sciences essential to public health practice. The fundamental scientific components span topics in epidemiology, public health informatics and surveillance, health economics, public health laboratory science, and related fields.

Public Health Data and Learning Center

Cost: Free

• Explore training focused on fundamental concepts in population health data. Topics include the core functions and essential services of public health, public health informatics, public health surveillance, and more. Training links will take you to other websites. Most training requires registration on these sites. Training courses include:
  • Public Health Essentials in Action Online
  • Understanding Population Health Concepts
  • Public Health 101 Series–Introduction to Public Health Laboratories

Public health and dementia caregiving

Cost: Free

• This 90-minute course, Public Health and Dementia Caregiving, is designed for public health students, educators and professionals and is part of the larger Healthy Brain Initiative curriculum, A Public Health Approach to Dementia. Follow the directions on the course landing page to access the course.

• This suite of training modules was developed for the Alzheimer’s Association by the Emory Centers for Public Health Training and Technical Assistance with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This course was also developed in partnership with the BOLD Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Caregiving located at the University of Minnesota.

• Public Health and Dementia Caregiving approaches caregiving for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias from a broad, population-based perspective. Participants can use this learning module format at their own independent pace, without any supplementary work or guidance from an instructor, presenter or trainer. The module can also be used as a base for training, assignments, group projects or class discussion. This guide contains supplementary materials to support any additional activities that might be done in addition to the module itself. The module contains the following 6 sections with 15 subsections and addresses five learning objectives.

The 10 Essential Public Health Services in Action

Cost: Free

• Local health departments are responsible for creating and maintaining conditions that keep people in their communities healthy and safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has defined and recently updated 10 essential public health services that communities should undertake to protect and promote the health of all people in their community. This training uses a case study (based on an actual infectious disease outbreak) to relate each step of the investigation to one of the 10 essential public health services. Public health professionals should be able to describe each of these essential services, and should work to ensure that all 10 services are provided in their community.

The Future of Population Health (Part 1): Public Health Systems and Structures

Cost: Free

• This conversation is the first program in a three-part series convening contributing authors from The Milbank Quarterly’s special issue celebrating its 100th anniversary, titled, “The Future of Population Health: Challenges and Opportunities."
• The second session is “Population Health: Major Challenges” and the final session, is “Policy, Governance, and Structural Determinants of Health.”

The Future of Population Health (Part 2): Population Health: Major Challenges

Cost: Free

• This conversation is the second program in a three-part series convening contributing authors from The Milbank Quarterly’s special issue celebrating its 100th anniversary, “The Future of Population Health: Challenges and Opportunities”.
• The first session is “Public Health Systems and Structures” and the final session, is “Policy, Governance, and Structural Determinants of Health.” Continuing Education available.

The Future of Population Health (Part 3): Governance, and Structural Determinants of Health

Cost: Free

• This conversation is the third program in a three-part series convening contributing authors from The Milbank Quarterly’s special issue celebrating its 100th anniversary, titled, “Policy, Governance, and Structural Determinants of Health."
•  The first session is “Public Health Systems and Structures” and the second session is “Population Health: Major Challenges.” Continuing Education available.

What is Public Health?

Cost: Free

• The world’s health needs are changing – evolving day to day, sometimes even hour to hour. It is the role of public health to investigate pressing health challenges and develop meaningful interventions that improve conditions affecting population health. Local board of health officials in Massachusetts should have a foundational knowledge of public health in order to be more effective health and wellness leaders in their community. Continuing Education available.

Indigenous Social Determinants of Health (ISDOH)

Cost: Free

• The purpose of this training is to offer tribal and urban Indian public health departments an approach to develop and apply a health framework that is tailored to issues, contexts, and culture(s) represented in their community.

• This training contains five modules designed to offer tribal and urban Indian public health practitioners with content and practice to map out their own Indigenous Social Determinants of Health framework. The modules use interactive and engaging activities and vignettes to develop an understanding of ISDOH at the individual, family, and community levels to consider connections to health and wellbeing.

Applying Strategic and Systems Thinking to Address Wicked Public Health Challenges

Cost: Free

• Public health continues to face wicked problems like widening racial and health disparities. Leading change that addresses these wicked problems requires strategic and systems thinking. This recorded training will provide an overview of these two distinct approaches and how they complement one another to enhance decision-making and problem-solving. It will also share the story of how a local health department applied strategic and systems thinking to promote worker rights, health and safety, highlighting tools that were used through their journey. Participants will also walk away with an actionable step to ensure that they apply or continue to apply strategic and systems thinking to their work.  This is the second of two sessions in a systems and strategic thinking series. 

Introduction to Systems Thinking

Cost: Free

• This self-study course introduces learners to the fundamental tools of Systems Thinking.

• Systems thinking provides a framework for identifying and addressing the underlying causes of complex problems. This approach minimizes responding to problem symptoms and the associated unintended consequences of quick fixes.

• This training will provide an overview of key concepts and specific tools for use with a systems thinking approach.

• Systems thinking skills were identified as one of the top new skills needed by the public health workers in a recent report “Building Skills For a More Strategic Workforce” from the National Consortium for Public Health Workforce Development.

Systems Thinking: Through a Public Health Lens

Cost: Free

Excel Pro Tips for Public Health: Budgets, Pivot Tables, and Data Analysis

Cost: Free

• Become your office's Excel pro by watching this interactive online video series. In this self-paced, 5-video series you will learn how to use Excel to create and understand budgets, as well as learning how to manipulate, analyze, and visualize large data sets more efficiently to get the most out of your public health projects.

Alberta Health Services Trauma Informed Care (TIC)

Cost: Free

• The TIC e-Learning Series consists of seven (7) foundational self-study modules, each of which can be completed in approximately 30 minutes or less. The modules have been designed for a broad audience, including those providing Addiction and Mental Health treatment services. The content has been developed using evidence-informed best practices and is organized sequentially to create a seamless, flowing learning experience; the modules should be taken in order.

Connect to Wellness

Cost: Free

• Connect to Wellness is an evidence-based workplace wellness program specifically designed for small and midsize employers to implement best practices, support employee health, and prevent chronic disease.

  This site is for departments who have been recruited to participate. For more information see Connect to Wellness.

Ready for Resilience: Supporting the Workforce

Cost: Free

• In this module, we'll look at three themes related to stress and the workplace. First, we will explore the stressors that can occur during the stages of disasters and public health emergencies. We will then look at how these stressors affect the public health workforce. Finally, we’ll consider strategies that organizations, teams, and individuals can use to support resilience.

Safety Culture in Healthcare

Cost: Free

• This educational activity is designed to increase knowledge about the importance of an integrated safety culture at the worksite supported by proactive leadership. Safety culture and key attributes will be stated. Current information on five work-related hazard categories and work tasks related to these exposures will be described. Information will be provided on prevention and control of work-related hazards including a framework utilizing the NIOSH hierarchy of controls (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), occupational safety and health laws and standards, resources, and ethical principles to support safe practice.

Trauma-Informed Conversations

Cost: Free

• Trauma-Informed Conversations (or TIC) are particularly important when working with vulnerable clients or patients. A trauma-informed approach acknowledges that individuals are made vulnerable by the ways our social systems are designed and recognizes that each individual processes and reacts to trauma differently.
• In this course we will discuss trauma and resiliency and provide practical tips for Community Health Workers and other providers on how to act as facilitators, connectors, and supportive teammates in advancing a client’s particular goals for their clinical care or general health.
• After completing this course, you will be able to...

• • Describe trauma and resiliency
  • Identify different stress responses that are common in individuals
  • Identify strategies for conducting trauma-informed conversations