Developing infrastructure for mentoring collaboration among public health organizations and local colleges

Dialogue with students and changing demographics in the San Francisco Bay Area have moved the Health Education Training Center (HETC) at the San Francisco Department of Public Health to develop an ongoing mentoring event emphasizing the benefits of mentoring and assisting with preparing new health education professionals to enter and lead in the field. Interactions with practitioners accelerate the practical learning curve for new professionals, enhancing the conceptual appreciation of academic skills. Further, the general and student populations in the Bay Area now include increasing numbers of people from a wide range of racial and ethnic groups who experience higher rates of poor health outcomes than the general population. The commitment to address these health disparities is an important focus in public health. Few opportunities exist for new and established professionals to share experiences of health education practice, including cultural competence. To address these circumstances, the HETC, working with local graduate and undergraduate health education programs, has integrated “Mentoring, Networking, and Inspiration for Health Educators” into its semiannual programming. More than 100 attendees have participated in the series. The HETC models the importance of cultural competence by inviting faculty, graduates of local programs, and other speakers who represent a range of racial and ethnic groups. This presentation will describe the event, its replication, and sustainability. It further will challenge the audience to take action to develop similar programs among their own local health agencies and institutions of higher learning.