The new partnership is supported by a $400 million investment from the American Rescue Plan Act that will fund up to 5,000 public health-related careers over the next five years
By Alex Harrington, Executive Director (Acting)
To increase the public health workforce by the next five years, AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forged a partnership to launch a new Public Health AmeriCorps, which will support the recruitment, training, and development of a new generation of public health leaders who will be ready to respond to the nation’s public health needs.
According to press releases from the CDC and AmeriCorps, the Public Health AmeriCorps program supports public health demands of regional and local populations throughout the country by providing crucial surge capacity for state and local public health organizations. Likewise, the program plans to spearhead pathways to public health-related careers through on-site experience and training with a focus on recruiting AmeriCorps members who reflect the communities in which they will serve.
The program will be supported by a $400 million investment from the American Rescue Plan Act, which plans to fund up to 5,000 AmeriCorps positions over the next five years and comes as part of a larger $7 billion investment in the public health workforce.
Grants will be awarded through a competitive process, with the first competition expected in fall of 2021.
“In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health AmeriCorps will help vulnerable communities recover from COVID-19 and address broader public health needs, especially those exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Mal Coles, acting CEO at AmeriCorps. “This is an exciting new partnership that builds upon the expertise, best practices, and lessons learned from both existing AmeriCorps and CDC programs to support communities and also provide much-needed surge capacity for state and local public health agencies who continue to bear the burden of caring for a nation in crisis.”
Learn more about AmeriCorps at https://americorps.gov/ and CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/.
And check out the following news releases:
- White House Announces $400 Million for Public Health AmeriCorps
- AmeriCorps and CDC Launch Public Health AmeriCorps, Seek Proposals to Build a New Generation of Public Health Leaders
- FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration to Invest $7 Billion from American Rescue Plan to Hire and Train Public Health Workers in Response to COVID-19
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Author: Alex Harrington is currently a Federal civil servant and a Certified Career Services Provider and Global Career Development Facilitator. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is a Persian Gulf War veteran.
