Bridging the distance with green technology: A collaborative university/community state-wide model for life-long training of the public health workforce

Today, we are faced with significant changes in the world and challenges to public health including war, environmental racism, bioterrorism, global warming, globalization, health disparities between rich and poor, and food security issues. Effective responses to these issues will require complex approaches and strategies implemented by a qualified public health workforce. Many organizations including the Institute of Medicine, National Board of Public Health Examiners, American Public Health Association, Society for Public Health Education, Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), Council of Accredited MPH Programs, and National Commission for Health Education Credentialing have acknowledged the need to provide additional training to ensure that the public health workforce is competent to respond to these challenges effectively. Public health leaders recognize that an adequately prepared workforce requires long-term development. While local health departments provide a significant amount of staff training, they have limited financial and staff resources for providing continuing education for their staff. Although schools and programs accredited by CEPH are required to provide continuing education to the public health workforce, they are constrained by the lack of resources, geography, and limited time. To meet these challenges, we initiated a state-wide project to increase educational opportunities to both degreed, and non-degreed public health workers throughout California. We describe a university/community collaborative model for delivering continuing education programs to facilitate lifelong learning, using innovative distance education technology that extends limited institutional resources, provides training to individuals who work in difficult to access health service delivery areas, and satisfies CEPH continuing education requirements.