History and Background
In its 2006 report, Strengthening Local Public Health in Massachusetts: A Call to Action , the Massachusetts Coalition for Local Public Health (CLPH) recommended “strengthen(ing) workforce development and competency through increased training opportunities for local boards of health and staff and through the development of minimum educational levels and credentialing for certain positions”. This recommendation highlights the continued importance of offering training to local health. The Local Public Health Institute of Massachusetts Competency Report (2010) identified inter-disciplinary, cross-cutting competencies, and program area competencies for the local public health workforce. This offered structure on how trainings are delivered and designed around how local health serves their communities.
Local Health Training Opportunities
Training opportunities include those offered by these membership organizations across the Commonwealth: Coalition for Local Public Health (CLPH), TRAIN Massachusetts (TRAIN MA), New England Public Health Training Center, and the Community Health Training Institute. As organizations composed of local health members, these trainings are highly tailored to local health needs.
LPHI is funded by MDPH OLRH. LPHI is widely used in onboarding and upskilling local health staff. LPHI offers a range of web-based and blended classroom training sessions developed in partnership with multidisciplinary and multisectoral partners. A full list of LPHI training offerings and a calendar of LPHI and other training activities can be found on the TRAIN MA.
To learn more about training opportunities available through CLPH member organizations, visit their websites:
In Western Massachusetts, the Western Massachusetts Public Health Association, the Berkshire County Boards of Health Association , and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments provide training and continuing education programs for local public health officials and professionals.
For Cape Cod and the Islands, the Barnstable County Department of Health and the Environment provides training and continuing education programs through the Cape and Islands Health Agents Coalition.
Local Health Partnerships
Massachusetts is home to a large number of colleges and universities. They conduct groundbreaking research on important public health issues, and train the public health workforce of the future. MDPH is working to coordinate partnerships with colleges and universities to promote public health as a profession, create meaningful student experiences, enhance capabilities of current staff, and optimize public health research and practice.
MDPH offers internships for undergraduate and Master’s level students as an opportunity to introduce them into the public health field. There are two internship programs:
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The Student Experience Program which places interns within MDPH programs.
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The MDPH Local Health Internship Program which places graduate students in local and regional health departments throughout Massachusetts and within MDPH.