BACKGROUND: Tulane University's 5-year strategic plan to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) includes cultivating mutually enhancing community partnerships and training students to work with diverse communities, domestic and international, in culturally responsive, equitable, and just ways. The Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine is reviewing their current practices and developing a plan to ensure students receive this preparation.

METHODS: A working group of faculty and representatives of the offices of student experience, public health practice, and interprofessional education was convened. We performed an environmental scan of student preparation for community engagement across campus partners and schools, such as the university’s center for public service, and reviewed our current practices. We identified multiple touchpoints across the time span of degree programs to embed this content. The committee also reviewed competencies in community participation and engagement from other organizations.

RESULTS: The working group is developing a plan to include community-engagement components from orientation to graduation, including: 1) identifying a set of competencies to be achieved; 2) school-wide and department level orientation activities to introduce students to basic concepts and specific issues in their field; 3) developing a series of three workshops to explore personal identity and positionality, the “isms” in public health, and cultural humility; 4) using interactive case studies in global health to explore challenges faced when working with communities; 5) having students develop a positionality statement prior to engaging in the applied practice experience (APE); 6) a reflection essay after completion of the APE; and 7) integrating community-engagement topics into the interprofessional education course and integrated learning experience. Building sustainable partnerships that are independent of grant-funded research projects or timelines and strengthen academic-practice linkages is a goal of the office of public health practice and opportunities from these partnerships will benefit students.

CONCLUSION: Preparing students to work with diverse communities is imperative in public health to minimize harm and improve the success of our efforts. This can be accomplished through intentional planning and training of our students, and through faculty and staff professional development in support of these goals.