Resources by Topic

The Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) aims to add to evidence bases related to public health systems and services, public health workforce, evaluation, and advocacy. The following resources most strongly reflect our values and mission. They have been created by our team members and colleagues or are pertinent to the field and represent important contributions to public health practice research.

Workforce Development, Needs Assessment, & Training

CPHS Products, Articles, Presentations

Other Products, Articles, Presentations

Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS)

Health Equity

Health Equity Performance Measures

In 2023, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) funded the Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health to create a toolkit to increase LHDs’ capacity to define, measure, and track progress toward health equity as a part of their performance improvement.

To best inform creation of a useful toolkit, CPHS first conducted an environmental scan in February and March of 2023 of peer-reviewed literature and plans written by public health departments. Next, CPHS held 3 listening sessions in January and February 2024 with professionals from LHDs across the country. The goal of the listening sessions was to understand LHDs’ working definitions of health equity, their HEPM strategies, and their data sources. Thirdly, much of the content included in this toolkit builds on Measuring What Matters in Public Health, published by NACCHO in 2018. This report provides guidance on building a performance management system, supplemented with templates, worksheets, and stories from the field. We add to this report by focusing specifically on performance measurement (an aspect of performance management) of health equity.

Community Health Worker

In 2023, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) funded the Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health to assist LHDs with hiring and retaining community health workers (CHWs) through the creation of a toolkit.

To create the Capacity Building in Local Health Departments: Community Health Worker Toolkit, CPHS, with support from NACCHO, first conducted an environmental scan of available literature on effective hiring and retention strategies for CHWs. CPHS also consulted with subject matter experts, including CHWs and leaders of CHW organizations. Once the toolkit began to take shape, CPHS gathered feedback by hosting a listening session and conducting a feedback survey with LHDs across the U.S. to ensure that the toolkit included relevant information and meaningful guidance. Additionally, CPHS consulted with field experts to create tools and provide examples of CHWs in LHDs. Contributors to the toolkit included Umemba Health, LCC; Nicollet County Health and Human Services (Minnesota); Dakota County Public Health (Minnesota), and the Center for Community Health Alignment (South Carolina).