Partnering to Engage and Empower Future Community Leaders in Fight Against HIV/AIDS : Lessons Learned from The Public Health Boot Camp

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago & DePaul University have a thirteen-year relationship of collaboration, programmatic development, and evaluation. In 2008, a major collaborative initiative launched, providing Chicago area HIV community leaders with public health knowledge and skills to assist with organizational sustainability. The Public Health Boot Camp (PHBC) was developed for mid-level community-based organization (CBO) professionals with direct oversight of HIV-related prevention/care activities. The PHBC is a week-long residential program where participants attend daily didactic learning sessions and engage in day/evening group discussions/team activities. PHBC learning focuses on six areas: public health principles; applied epidemiology; social/behavioral change theories; evaluation/research methods; public policy/advocacy; and organizational communication/ development. Participants select one programmatic challenge as a focal issue, presenting action plans during the final session. The DePaul team conducts a series of follow-up inquiries and interviews to obtain action plan progress. The first PHBC was implemented in December 2008 (N=12 CBO representatives) & the second one in July 2009 (N=13 CBO representatives). Daily evaluations focus on PHBC content, applicability, format, and structure. Results demonstrate high degrees of program acceptability and applicability to participants' CBO activities. Participants reported a) increased confidence in addressing programmatic challenges, b) improved career development/agency leadership skills, c) improved understanding of public health principles/practice. Across the first cohort of twelve participants, eight received a range of federal, state and private funds totaling $2,284,250. These grants are focused on building capacity and infrastructure within CBOs to improve service delivery. The first cohort's successes were achieved in one year of PHBC completion.