Public Health Training Center

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funds the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (NWCPHP) to be a Public Health Training Center. Through collaborations with state departments of health and other educational institutions, the NWCPHP has created a Public Health Workforce Training Center that serves six states in the Northwestern United States: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Taken together, these six states extend across three time zones and two Public Health Service regions and make up almost one-third of the land mass of the United States.

The overarching purpose of the Public Health Workforce Training Center is to ensure the basic competencies of all public health personnel in our region and to facilitate and contribute to the development of the public health leaders necessary to protect and promote the health of residents of this region.

Our Public Health Training Center objectives:

• Design and conduct workforce assessments for each state
• Develop a training resource inventory
• Identify the gaps between the workforce competency needs and existing training resources
• Develop new curricula to fill the training gaps
• Deliver new courses and programs that are parts of the curricula
• Enhance the cohort learning experience through advisors and improved communications
• Increase the practicum sites in underserved areas for resident degree students
• Increase the minority public health workforce through collaborations with other institutions

HRSA maintains a listing of all of the Public Health Workforce Training Centers on their web site.