Utilizing Local Professional Association Chapters as Pathways for Leadership Development

In 2019, there was no entity specifically dedicated to health promotion and education practitioners in Connecticut or New England. This made it difficult for health promotion practitioners and students to network, collaborate, and engage in professional development. The purpose of this article is to share our experiences developing the new Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education (CT SOPHE), including how we leveraged student interns during the first two years to promote organizational growth. To build our membership, it was important to determine who would be interested in joining CT SOPHE and so we focused on three groups: the current workforce/professionals, future workforce/students, and future leaders/interns. Over the course of these two years, three interns were recruited to help with creating a needs assessment (MPH student) and program development (two BS students); the organization was established by an MPH student as her internship project. Three former interns share how their experience working with the CT SOPHE board has helped them develop crucial leadership skills early in their careers. Embedding student interns into the framework and operations of CT SOPHE demonstrates an intentional and strategic commitment to the sustainability of both the organization and the workforce.