Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals – Improving to better meet public health workforce needs

This session will introduce the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice’s (Council on Linkages) newly revised Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies). The Core Competencies, a consensus set of skills desirable for the broad practice of public health, have been used by hundreds of health departments and academic institutions in workforce development efforts since their initial adoption in 2001 and are incorporated into the Public Health Accreditation Board’s Standards and Measures and Healthy People 2020. The Core Competencies have recently been revised to ensure they keep pace with changes in the field of public health and continue to meet the needs of the public health workforce. 

During this interactive session, participants will learn about the Core Competencies and how they are being used by public health organizations, changes in the 2014 version of the Core Competencies and how these changes address feedback from the public health community, and tools that can facilitate use of the Core Competencies. Participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions about the revisions and discuss the impact these revisions may have on use of the Core Competencies within their organizations. Participants will also be invited to suggest additional tools that could help organizations integrate the Core Competencies into their workforce development activities. Feedback and suggestions will be shared with the Council on Linkages for further consideration.