Lessons from the launch of the Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response

Posted on May 18, 2026 by Nikki Weiss Leave a comment

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of Readiness and Response funds a network of 10 regional preparedness centers to advance the uptake of evidence-based strategies and interventions across communities, enhancing their ability to prepare for and respond to public health threats. The Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response (UMCPHPR; the Center) was launched in fall 2024 to strengthen public health preparedness and response (PHPR) efforts across the six states of HHS Region 5, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Tribal nations. Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan lead the project, and scholars from the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center (GLITEC), the University of Illinois-Chicago, Indiana University-Indianapolis, The Ohio State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have also played important roles in the formation of the Center in Year 1 of funding. This blog post will highlight accomplishments and findings from Year 1 as well as describe plans for Year 2 work, which is now underway.

Source: Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University

The UMCPHPR established a Regional Coordinating Body (RCB) with the goal of providing input and guidance while the Center was determining its priority areas of focus. The RCB comprised subject matter experts representing state and local health agencies, academic Centers for Public Health Practice, K-12 schools, health care coalitions, and underserved populations, including Tribal communities across Region 5. During the Center’s first year, the RCB met quarterly.

Concurrent with the formation of the RCB, the six states and GLITEC held listening sessions, inviting K-12 professionals, public health nurses, emergency preparedness officials, Tribal members, and state and local public health representatives to discuss their needs regarding PHPR. Thirty listening sessions were held between April and December 2025 with a total of 263 participants across Region 5. By mid-July, listening session data as well as guidance from CDC project officers and the RCB all indicated a strong need for interventions within K-12 institutions, so subsequent listening sessions were tailored to this topic. By the end of the listening sessions, three priority focus areas were agreed upon by Center staff: workforce development, partnership & coordination, and communication—all intersecting with responses to infectious disease outbreaks such as measles.

Based on these themes and priorities that emerged from the listening sessions, the Center staff began developing an intervention called Project Ready Schools (PRS). The intervention, designed for school districts across the region, includes: (1) a strategy session to clarify PHPR roles, responsibilities, and messaging strategies; (2) a guided applied activity that helps school teams tailor concepts to their local context; and (3) a facilitated simulation based on a realistic scenario to build operational readiness. The planned second phase of the program includes joint agency action planning with the school’s local public health department and an additional tabletop. The PRS intervention curriculum was developed in collaboration with public health communication expert Dr. Seema Yasmin.

As part of the development of the intervention, the Center also designed an evaluation to assess: (1) if the implementation of the intervention was received as envisioned (process evaluation) and (2) if metrics indicate that the intended outcomes had been achieved (outcome evaluation). Learning objectives (metrics) will be examined using a combination of a retrospective competency assessment and in-session mini assessment comprehension checks, and participants will also be invited to participate in semi-structured interviews at the end of the programming to provide insights on what did and did not work well.

As mentioned, Year 2 of funding for the Center is underway, with the goal of commencing the intervention this summer. Given continued funding in future years, the Center plans to expand the pilot intervention to more schools as well as expand the curriculum to include sessions on partnership development. We also plan to incorporate findings of our evaluation into future interventions so that each subsequent intervention builds on and improves from those that came prior.

If you are interested in participating in PRS to strengthen your school’s communication systems and preparedness capacity, contact us at r5cphpr@umn.edu to learn more. Please also share this information with colleagues who may be interested.

About the Author

Nikki Weiss: Nikki Weiss is a biocultural anthropologist specializing in mixed methods research. She completed her undergraduate education in biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and she earned her master’s and doctorate in anthropology from Ohio State University. Before arriving at CPHS, Nikki worked for the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health – Great Lakes Hub, as well as for the CDC Foundation. Her research interests include health equity and making health care accessible and attainable for all.

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