With a new grant from the CDC, PHAB will be able to offer new tools and resources and will have increased capacity to support and strengthen health departments’ workforce, data modernization, and Foundational Capabilities.

As our country has begun to emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic this past year, public health faces new challenges and opportunities as we rebuild and reset. To respond to this new public health context, PHAB is offering new tools and resources to support the field and will have increased capacity to do so in the coming year through a historic grant award from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Infrastructure grant program.

On November 29, 2022, PHAB, along with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), was awarded a grant from the CDC to support state, local, and territorial health department efforts to modernize data systems, recruit and retain a skilled public health workforce, and address public health infrastructure needs. PHAB will work collaboratively with other public health organizations to help build health department capacity and address public health needs identified during the pandemic. With this award, PHAB will have increased capacity to support and strengthen health departments’ workforce, data modernization, and Foundational Capabilities.

PHAB will continue to offer, and continuously improve, responsive tools, resources, and programming for health departments to better serve their communities. In addition to releasing a new and improved Version 2022 of the National Public Health Standards and Measures PHAB:

• developed the new PHAB Readiness Assessment to help health departments assess their readiness for accreditation or Pathways Recognition,
• launched the Pathways Recognition program,
• grew our 21st Century Learning Community, and
• released the Staffing Up Public Health Workforce Calculator in collaboration with the de Beaumont Foundation, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Center for Public Health Systems, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support.

In the coming year, PHAB will also release to Foundational Public Health Services Costing and Capacity tool. These resources ensure our health departments have access to modern tools and critical resources to build and maintain strong infrastructure and sound public health practice.

The many public health challenges we all faced during the pandemic proved just how critical evidence-based practices and innovative strategies are to transform of our public health system to protect and promote the health of all our diverse communities across the nation. By supporting health departments and strengthening public health infrastructure, we can facilitate equitable access to essential public health services for all communities to thrive into the future.