About Us
Background & Funding
In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) granted North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH) funding through the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) to help meet critical infrastructure needs in the short term and to make possible strategic investments that would have lasting effects on public health agencies across the United States.
With PHIG funds, NCDPH partnered with the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) in 2024 to create the NC Governmental Public Health Pathways Program, a self-sustaining program whose purpose is to increase the recruitment and retention of a skilled and knowledgeable governmental public health workforce in NC.
Who is NCDPH?
The North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH) works to protect the public's health across North Carolina and helps shape positive health outcomes for North Carolinians and the communities in which they live, learn, work, worship, and play.
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The Division's programs and services, implemented in collaboration with local health departments and state, federal and private partners, touch the lives of every North Carolinian and visitor to the state 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Who is NCIPH?
Since 1999, the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) has served as a bridge between academia and public health practice partners including state and local public health agencies, healthcare and community organizations.
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Although formally established in 1999, some of NCIPH’s core programs, particularly continuing education, began in the 1930s as a core function of public health at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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With the mission of “creating systems, programs and policies that work for all,” NCIPH serves as a resource for public health professionals across the state, region and country.
Addressing Turnover & Strengthening Our Public Health Workforce
The Problem
Nearly half of state and local public health employees left their organizations from 2017 to 2021, creating a critical lack of skills and experience across the nation.
Why it Matters
In addition to eroding services that improve chronic disease, injury prevention, maternal and child health, environmental health, and other needs, this loss of public health experience and institutional knowledge puts communities at significant risk for infectious diseases and other health crises.
The Solutions
Public health departments need to drastically improve their recruitment & retention. Some important strategies include:
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Creating recruitment pathways for people with undergraduate & graduate degrees
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Reforming and streamlining hiring systems
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Reduce stress and prevent burnout by reducing workloads through creative solutions like hosting internships or practicum projects
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Creating mentorship programs to prepare early-career professionals for leadership roles
Citation: These data are taken, in part, from a study that compared intent to leave or retire in 2017 with actual separations from 2017 through 2021 among state and local public health agency staff, using pandemic-era data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey fielded in 2017 and 2021. Overall, 150,352 staff members were present across the analytic sample of 96 agencies that participated in PH WINS 2017 and 2021. The PH WINS survey is conducted by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Leider J. P., Castrucci B. C., Robins M., Hare Bork R., Fraser M. R., Savoia E., Piltch-Loeb R., Koh H. K. (2023). The Exodus of State and Local Public Health Employees: Separations Started Before and Continued Throughout COVID-19. Health Affairs. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2022/01251
