2014 Revision of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals

Public health practice and academic organizations rely on the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) to guide their workforce development efforts. To ensure that the Core Competencies stay current with developments in the field of public health and continue to meet the needs of the workforce, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) recently reviewed and revised the Core Competencies.

The review of the Core Competencies began in March 2013, with the Council on Linkages' decision to collect feedback from the public health community. Based on early feedback received, the Council on Linkages voted on September 17, 2013 to proceed with revisions to the Core Competencies. Feedback was collected through December 31, 2013. Read a sample of the more than 1,000 suggestions, received from over 350 people, to help shape the future of the public health workforce.

Following the successful feedback period, the Core Competencies Workgroup began revising the Core Competencies. The Workgroup met by conference call in February 2014 to discuss the feedback received and draft revisions. Learn more about how the revisions proceeded and view an early draft of changes to the Financial Planning and Management Skills Domain for a look behind the scenes of the revisions.

As the development of revisions progressed, the Core Competencies Workgroup met again in early May 2014 to discuss a preliminary draft of revisions to Tier 2 of the Core Competencies. Feedback on this draft helped in refining revisions to Tier 2 and drafting revisions to Tiers 1 and 3 to align with the changes in Tier 2. Final draft revisions to all three tiers were presented to the Council on Linkages for a vote on adoption.

The review and revision process culminated on June 26, 2014, when the Council on Linkages unanimously adopted the newly revised version of the Core Competencies. Download a free copy, view a summary of changes made in response to the feedback received, and learn more about the latest update to this set of foundational competencies.

Keep current and engaged with ongoing work related to the Core Competencies by subscribing to the Council on Linkages Update and visiting the PHF Pulse blog. For questions about the review and revision process or more information about becoming involved in Core Competencies activities, please contact Kathleen Amos at kamos@phf.org.