DeLauro Announces $32 Million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Grant to Support Connecticut Healthcare Workforce Development
House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) announced that a $32,253,484 grant has been awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the Connecticut Department of Public Health to support the agency’s newly launched Office of Public Health Workforce Development Program.
“Connecticut’s public health workforce is an anchor to our communities,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. “As Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and Chair of the subcommittee that funds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I created this grant program to invest in our state and local public health departments, to support the existing workforce that day in and day out protects the health of our communities, and to create a pipeline for the next generation of public health workers. If there is one thing we have learned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three years, it is that our nation’s public health infrastructure is fragile, and we were not prepared to respond to public health emergencies of this magnitude. And it was not because of the workforce, but it was because of inadequate investments over many years in our public health infrastructure. I am excited to see this funding come to Connecticut. We must not continue the cycle of crisis to complacency in public health funding.”
DeLauro created the Strengthening the U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems Grant Program as a part of the American Rescue Plan to provide a historic investment to support our nation’s critical public health infrastructure needs. This grant is the bedrock for CDC’s new public health infrastructure work to ensure that every community has the services, systems, and workforce to protect and promote health. A critical aspect of the grant funding is its flexibility so grantees, like Connecticut, can respond to their most critical needs.
Goals of the Office of Public Health Workforce Development include:
- Working with academic leaders in existing public health programs at public and private colleges and universities in Connecticut to ensure that they have the resources they need to deliver academic training and coursework:
- That is up to date
- Includes cross-cutting content addressing health equity and mental health
- Aligns with the current standards for public health professional training
- Produces graduates that are work-ready
- Developing a new Public Health Training Academy to coordinate and provide continuing education and upskilling of state, local, and non-profit public health workers.
- Improving pathways from enrollment to employment through more standardized and widely available experiential learning opportunities (i.e., internships, fellowships, apprenticeships) at public health agencies.
- Increasing mental health supports for public health workers by developing an integrated program focused on worker physical and mental health protections, trauma-informed leadership, and an overall ‘culture of care’ that is accessible, translatable, and implementable at state, local, and non-profit public health agencies in Connecticut.
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