Staff from NWCPHP and NNPHI during a recent site visit.
The Northwest Center for Public Health Practice is proud to announce our role as a regional Hub and Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) partner.
The new grant program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aims to help public health departments across the United States strengthen their workforce and infrastructure.
During the 5-year grant period, under the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) Hub Model and in partnership with the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Oregon Health Authority – Public Health Division, Washington Department of Health, Public Health – Seattle & King County in Washington, and Multnomah County Health Department in Oregon, NWCPHP will provide technical assistance to public health professionals serving 127.7 million people within the Pacific Northwest.
This nearly $4 billion investment in the public health infrastructure, spread across 107 state, local, and territorial health jurisdictions, provides a necessary foundation for ensuring the country’s public health institutions have adequate workforce, services, and systems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hub model is a proven framework that has evolved over 20 years to leverage local expertise, foster public-private partnerships between institutes and governmental public health systems, and foster multi-sector solutions.
“We plan to leverage our unique expertise as a Public Health Training Center and a Public Health Institute to build workforce capacity and be a resource for technical assistance in the region,” said NWCPHP Director Betty Bekemeier, PhD, MPH, RN. “We are focused on improving the well-being of all populations by advancing public health practice in all areas.”
Partnerships will play a crucial role in the program’s success. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), and the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) are the three national partners selected to spearhead this ground-breaking investment. To address the scale and scope of this project, NNPHI is creating a community of practice among the nine hubs for them to share, coordinate, and leverage each other’s expertise and resources.
“These Hubs are responsible for supporting the needs of our nation’s public health departments working on the national Public Health Infrastructure Grant efforts,” said Vincent Lafronza, NNPHI President and Chief Executive Officer. “Some of the nine Hubs also work with Spokes, which are institutes in neighboring jurisdictions who have expertise and relationships in other states and territories. Working together as a unit, the Hub and Spoke model enables strong coverage of all US jurisdictions. We are all committed to working in harmony so that together we mobilize innovation, leverage local knowledge and relationships, share resources, reduce duplication of effort, and provide sustainable, technical supports that result in substantially strengthened public health capacities available to every US community.”
