Adding the missing rungs to the public health career ladder: Diversifying the health education workforce through innovative community college programs

Diversifying the health workforce (health educators and other public health professionals included) is a well-recognized strategy to decrease health disparities. Community colleges have not traditionally been used as a platform for training health educators, yet they provide an accessible, affordable and flexible “rung” in the career ladder for many low-income, immigrant and marginalized communities. Of those Californians of color attending college, the majority are enrolled in a community college. Data will be presented from a recent needs assessment study conducted in the 10-county San Francisco Bay Area on public health paraprofessional workforce needs; this study demonstrated a demand for community health workers, behavioral health paraprofessionals, and other frontline workers. Demand is high for bicultural and bilingual workers, who are well represented in the community college population. In addition to the needs assessment data, this presentation will describe programmatic responses developed in partnership among the colleges, public health departments and community organizations. City College of San Francisco (CCSF) has developed a number of groundbreaking certificate programs to train paraprofessionals to deliver health education and advocacy. This presentation will describe recent innovations in programs at CCSF and other Bay Area colleges, including new approaches to community health worker training, and the expanding role of Bay Area colleges in training wellness-oriented mental health paraprofessionals. Partnerships with local employers to deliver training at clinics and other community locations will be described, along with some of the challenges to building such partnerships.