Minnesota Public Health Corps: A New Model For Building The Governmental Public Health Workforce

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Workforce Development
• Community Health

Background:

• Governmental public health agencies in the US face critical understaffing, impacting essential services.
• Public Health AmeriCorps was launched in 2022 to build a robust and diverse national public health workforce.
• The Minnesota Public Health Corps serves as a large-scale model, integrating AmeriCorps members into state governmental public health settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the initial year (2022-23) of the Minnesota Public Health Corps program.
• To describe the experiences of 35 participating host sites.
• To examine the program's impact on AmeriCorps members' public health career skills and prospects.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the first year of the Minnesota Public Health Corps program.
• Collected information on the experiences of 35 participating governmental public health sites.
• Assessed preliminary findings on corps members' skill development and career intentions.

Main Results:

• Corps members were younger and more diverse than the existing public health workforce in Minnesota.
• A majority of corps members expressed intent to pursue careers in public health.
• Host sites reported enhanced capacity for delivering public health services and reaching new populations.

Conclusions:

• The Minnesota Public Health Corps demonstrates a scalable model for addressing immediate public health agency capacity gaps.
• The program contributes to long-term efforts to revitalize and diversify the public health workforce.
• Successful integration of AmeriCorps members can improve public health service delivery and community outreach.