Programs

• Teamwork and Collaboration 
• Focus on the Future 
• People and Partners 
• Creativity and Innovation 
• Results and Creating Value 
• Health Equity 
• Accountability 
• Public Responsibility and Citizenship 
• Community Engagement

Strategy 1: Promote the development of collaborations between academia and practice within public health. 

Tactics:

1. Support the development, maintenance, and expansion of academic health department partnerships through the Academic Health Department Learning Community.
2. Document and disseminate progress in academic/practice collaboration and the impact of that collaboration in public health.
3.  Document contributions of Council on Linkages member organizations, individually and collectively, to improving public health performance through implementation of the Council on Linkages’ Strategic Directions.
4.  Coordinate with other national initiatives, such as the Public Health Infrastructure Grant program, to improve public health performance through the implementation of the Council on Linkages’ Strategic Directions.
5. Learn from and share with other countries and global health organizations strategies for strengthening the public health workforce.​ 

Strategy 2: Promote the development of collaborations between public health and healthcare professionals and organizations. 

Tactics:

1. Review the Competencies for Population Health Professionals for potential modification.   
2. Encourage the inclusion of healthcare professionals and organizations in academic health department partnerships. 
3. Document and highlight progress being made in public health/healthcare collaboration and the impact of that collaboration. 

Strategy 1: Develop and support the use of consensus-based competencies relevant to public health practice.

Tactics:

1. Review the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals every three years for possible revision.
2. Develop and disseminate tools and training to assist individuals and organizations with implementing and integrating the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals into education and training.
3. Work with the Council on Education for Public Health to encourage the use of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals and academic/practice partnerships by schools and programs of public health.
4. Work with the National Board of Public Health Examiners to encourage the use of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals in the Certified in Public Health credentialing program.
5. Contribute to the development and measurement of Healthy People objectives related to public health infrastructure.
6. Identify and advance opportunities for using the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals in the education and training of health professionals and other professionals who impact health. 

Strategy 2: Encourage the development of quality training for public health professionals. 

Tactics:

1. Provide resources and tools for enhancing and measuring the impact of training.
2. Contribute to efforts to use and improve quality standards for public health training. 

Strategy 3: Promote public health practice-based learning. 

Tactics:

1. Conduct a periodic review of practice-based content in public health education.
2. Develop tools to assist academic health departments in providing high-quality practica.  

Strategy 1: Develop a comprehensive plan for ensuring an effective public health workforce. 

Tactics:

1. Support the use of evidence in recruitment and retention strategies for the public health workforce.
2. Use existing data to better understand the composition and competencies of the public health workforce.
3. Identify additional data needed to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan for the public health workforce.
4. Participate in the Public Health Accreditation Board’s workforce development, quality improvement, and performance management activities to encourage the use of Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals and academic/practice partnerships by health departments.
5. Participate in, facilitate, and/or convene efforts to develop a national strategic or action plan for public health workforce development and monitor progress.  

Strategy 2: Define the training and life-long learning needs of the public health workforce, identify gaps in training, and explore mechanisms to address these gaps.

Tactics:

1. Explore emerging leadership competencies needed within the public health workforce for health systems transformation.
2. Identify skills needed for public health professionals to deliver Foundational Public Health Services.  

Strategy 3: Provide access to and assistance with using tools to enhance competence. 

Tactics:

1. Develop and disseminate tools and training to assist individuals and organizations with implementing and integrating the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals into practice.
2. Assist individuals and organizations with using tools and training to implement and integrate the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals into practice.
3. Encourage the use of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals as a foundation for the development of discipline-specific and interprofessional competencies.
4. Assist with developing, refining, and implementing discipline-specific and interprofessional competencies aligned with the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals.
5. Assist other countries and global health organizations with developing and using public health competencies.

Strategy 4: Demonstrate the value of public health in achieving a culture of health. 

Tactics:

1. Document contributions of the various professions within public health to achieving healthy communities.
2. Describe the unique contributions that public health professionals can bring to health systems transformation.
3. Encourage public health professionals to engage other professions and sectors in developing strategies for achieving healthy communities.
4. Document how public health research can and does contribute to achieving healthy communities.
5. Participate in, facilitate, and/or conduct a profile study of the public health workforce. 

Strategy 1: Support efforts to further public health practice research, including public health systems and services research (PHSSR).

Tactics:

1. Identify gaps in data and opportunities for improving data for conducting research relevant to practice.
2. Identify emerging needs for public health practice research to support health systems transformation.
3. Collaborate with other national efforts to help build capacity for and promote public health practice research.
4. Convene potential funders to increase financial support for public health practice research.
5. Assess progress related to public health practice research. 

Strategy 2: Support the translation of research into public health practice. 

Tactics:

1. Identify ways to disseminate and improve access to evidence-based practices.
2. Demonstrate the value of public health practice research to the practice of public health.
3. Explore opportunities to support The Guide to Community Preventive Services. 

Strategy 3: Encourage the engagement of public health practitioners in contributing to the public health evidence base. 

Tactics:

1.  Develop and support implementation of an academic health department research agenda.
2. Foster the development, sharing, and use of practice-based evidence.​ 

In 1988, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Public Health, stated that schools of public health were “somewhat isolated from the field of public health practice.” To help bridge this perceived gap between the academic and practice communities, the Public Health Faculty/Agency Forum (Forum) was established by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1990.  

Four national public health organizations participated as members of the Forum: American Public Health Association (APHA), Association of Schools and Program of Public Health (ASPPH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). 

The Forum had four principal goals: 

• Strengthen relationships between public health academicians and public health practitioners 

• Improve the teaching, training, and practice of public health 

• Establish firm practice links between schools of public health and public agencies  

• Collaborate with others in achieving the nation’s Year 2000 health objectives 

After nearly two years of deliberations and an extensive public comment period, the Forum issued a final report, The Public Health Faculty/Agency Forum: Linking Graduate Education and Practice. In this report, the Forum recommended a variety of initiatives and strategies to improve the teaching and practice of public health by building meaningful collaborative relationships. In addition, the Forum issued a list of “Universal Competencies” to help guide the education and training of public health professionals. The desire of the Forum to see its recommendations and the competencies implemented led to the formation of the Council on Linkages in 1992. 

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health. The Future of Public Health. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1988.