Challenge
One of the greatest challenges in the efforts to combat health disparities in the United States (U.S.) is the growing shortage of qualified and diverse health professionals in all aspects of public health. To replenish the nearly one in four public health professionals entering retirement, schools of public health will have to triple the current number of graduates over the next several years. As the cultural landscape of this country continues to evolve, it is becoming increasingly critical that the emerging faces of the public health workforce reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity in communities across the U.S.
Solution
In the face of these challenges, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) understands the tremendous contribution that young adults can make in reducing health disparities and is dedicated to advancing and disseminating knowledge in the field of health equity. To this end, OMH has launched the Youth Heath Equity Participatory Model of Practice (YHEMOP) to support the future design, implementation, and evaluation of federal and public health workforce policies, specifically as it relates to capacity building for existing organizations or institutions that promote health equity or address health disparities.
Result
Leveraging its national partnerships, Atlas Research will provide technical assistance and program support to OMH and the YHEMOP in the placement of Emerging Health Professionals (EHPs) to meet the needs of diverse organizations with short-term health equity projects. As part of these efforts, Atlas is fully developing tools and materials to be used by OMH, placement sites, Mentors, and EHPs. Atlas leads the recruitment efforts to identify organizations to serve as placement sites for EHPs and coordinates with national partners to recruit EHPs to be matched with these organizations. For each cohort, Atlas provides technical assistance to the YHEMOP by managing and monitoring each EHP/placement site match and designing and delivering to EHPs educational webinars related to health equity and the social determinates of health. To ensure that both the experience of YHEMOP participants and short- and long-term impacts of the program are captured, Atlas is working with our evaluation partner, Community Science, to design and implement a thoughtful and thorough program evaluation to be replicated with each YHEMOP cohort. Atlas’ efforts to support the YHEMOP aim enhance the development of the next generation of emerging health professionals and leaders through direct engagement in health equity work.