Welcome letter
We are excited to share that PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact (CHLI) saw significant growth in 2023 across its body of work and continues to build healthy communities by cultivating leadership, catalyzing learning networks, and strengthening cross-sector partnerships.
With new funding though the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), a groundbreaking investment in the US public health system, we now serve as a key partner for the HHS Region 9 Hub under the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) to help address longstanding public health infrastructure needs. We look forward to working with our partners at PHI and PHIG to cultivate leadership and support public health departments by providing technical assistance, training, and other resources.
Complementary efforts to boost the public health workforce and cultivate leadership through partnerships between academia and public health departments are underway. In Fall 2023, a cohort of six graduate and undergraduate public health students were hired by three local health departments across California through our new Public Health Residency program. We are excited to grow this body of work, place new professionals in the field, and provide early career opportunities in public health.
Strengthening cross-sector partnerships and catalyzing learning networks are at the core of our approach to building healthy communities. By securing $1.55 mil in funding and fiscal sponsorship of our California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN), we took over support for 19 coalitions across California as they work with local partners to save lives from overdose. COPN continues to shape national approaches to address the overdose epidemic, and our National Overdose Prevention Network (NOPN) and National Overdose Prevention Leadership Summit (NOPLS) amplified the reach of this approach, with all-time high attendance for our ongoing events and online summit.
Over the past 30 years, CHLI has become well-known for its work to cultivate leadership, and more recently to support team-based cohorts through its training program, the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH) which welcomed its 13th cohort this year. This year we also added a new leadership cohort through a partnership with the National Center for Environmental Health, and we can support 11 teams from across the country in our NLAPH Lead-Free Communities program as they develop agile leadership skills, build partnerships, and tackle one of the biggest public health initiatives in recent history—eliminating lead from local communities.
As we look ahead to the rest of this year and beyond, we are excited to broaden our impact and invite you to learn more about our work to cultivate leadership, catalyze learning networks, and strengthen cross-sector partnerships.
2023 by the numbers
23 state and local PHIG grantees supported
Through new public health workforce funding and partnerships, we serve HHS Region 9 and provide technical assistance to state and local health departments.
176 AmeriCorps members placed in communities
Through our partnership with AmeriCorps, we’re able to support existing leadership development programs and multi-sector teams in rural California.
$1.5+ million to support local overdose prevention coalitions
Our program, the California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN) now issues funding to 19 local coalitions in California, totaling $1,550,000.
11 teams building lead-free communities
With the National Center for Environmental Health, we are helping teams build partnerships and eliminate lead in local communities.
4 sessions presented at APHA 2023
Our staff shared insights and best practices from our programs, including workforce development, environmental health, overdose prevention, and mental health first aid.
98 events produced
Our programmatic workshops and large-scale virtual events highlight innovative practices, leaders, and resources across a wide range of public health issues.
Scaling impact at the local, state, regional, and national level
In 2023, we supported teams to address a wide range of public health issues, including overdose prevention, building lead-free communities, improving access to behavioral health, and more.
Building team-based agile leadership skills and ability to work across sectors
The Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (LAPH) provides training to four-person multi-sector teams from across the country to advance their leadership skills and achieve health equity in their community. Our teams collaborate on an applied health leadership project, focusing their growth and skills to support existing work in their communities.
"The program taught me the importance of thinking outside of the box and working with others, especially those with a different demographic background, discipline of specialty, and beliefs to keep learning how to be an effective change agent."
-LAPH participant
"[Because of LAPH] I have learned how to effectively elevate the voices of communities and lived experiences of others."
-LAPH participant
Leadership development wins by the numbers
In 2023, impact data was collected through interviews and surveys of both individual participants and teams in NLAPH Cohort 12, showing significant participant satisfaction and progress toward team-defined goals. Teams in our NLAPH Lead-Free Communities Cohort developed strong partnerships in their communities, tested strategies and messages, and created more concrete plans to advance their projects.
Download NLAPH Cohort 12 evaluation report
Download NLAPH Lead-Free Communities Learning Brief 2023
897 leaders
In 2023, 68 individuals participated in NLAPH Cohort 12 and participated in our year-long adaptive leadership training program.
197 teams
The 15 teams in Cohort 12 worked on an applied project in their community. Five teams focused on building lead-free communities.
49 states & territories
Teams addressed behavioral health, overdose prevention and other issues in their local communities with diverse geographic and economic conditions across the US.
14 out of 20 individual competencies showed statistically significant improvement
96% of participants reported that LAPH contributed to strengthening their individual leadership skills
100% of participants have applied new skills or knowledge acquired through LAPH to their individual work
NLAPH Team Highlights
Preventing violence in Bexar County, TX
In 2023 the Bexar County Violence Prevention Collaborative (NLAPH C12) produced a final version of a Violence Prevention Strategic Plan that is now ready for publication and implementation in the community. The team’s work during the program helped them meet with workgroups of community stakeholders across all four violence areas (gun, domestic, youth, and sexual) to establish goals and action steps for violence prevention.
Lead-free communities policy win in Louisville, KY
The Louisville Lead-Free Community Team joined NLAPH’s tenth cohort with a focus on implementing lead-free strategies, starting with one high-need neighborhood, Smoketown, and learning from and spreading successful strategies to other zip codes where there was need.
After their involvement in NLAPH, the team developed local policy recommendations that were implemented in Louisville.
Read local media article ⭢
Download case study ⭢
Learn more about NLAPH Lead-Free Communities ⭢
Accelerating local impact and building networks to save lives from overdose
The Overdose Prevention Network runs both nationally and in California. The California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN) is the largest overdose prevention network in the country with active coalitions serving 85% of California’s 39 million people. Through our COPN Accelerator, local coalitions participate in a 12-month cohort program to share ideas, discover prevention strategies, and stop overdose deaths.
Our National Overdose Prevention Network (NOPN) is a national learning community that supports local, regional, and statewide overdose prevention efforts that draw communities together to save lives.
Learn more about the National Overdose Prevention Network ⭢
Learn more about the California Overdose Prevention Network ⭢
Learn more about the COPN Accelerator program ⭢
“[The program] helped us to include more diverse organizations in coalition work, evaluate our outreach in reducing stigma, and work more effectively to understand organizations we want to bring into the coalition work.”
-COPN local coalition team member
“This is one of the best programs that I have been involved with. The collaboration and opportunities that are available are amazing and so full of information.”
-COPN local coalition team member
Overdose prevention wins by the numbers
Our National Overdose Prevention Network offers free resources and events for overdose prevention and saw all-time high participant registration in 2023. And in California, our COPN Accelerator 4.0 program continued to help participants make an impact in their community by taking an equity-based approach to overdose prevention. Impact data from the recent cohort showed significant participant satisfaction and progress toward team-defined goals.
Download NOPN Evaluation Report 2023
Download COPN Accelerator Report 2023
Discover more impact insights
91% of participants self-reported improvement in leadership skills
95% of participants said the program increased the effectiveness of their coalitions
100% of coalitions are advancing key overdose prevention strategies
Using opioid safety & surveillance data at local level
Implementing or expanding Naloxone distribution site(s) or systems
Increasing public awareness of opioid safety
Promoting harm reduction services
Collaborating with law enforcement
1000 attendees for our national webinars
Registration hit an all-time high for our free national webinars highlighting issus such as youth engagement, opioid settlement funds, and harm reduction.
COPN Accelerator Program Highlights
Sacramento County Opioid Coalition Gone Too Soon Memorial Project
The Gone Too Soon Memorial Project displays a series of poster-size photos of those lost to opioids. We are humanizing the statistics by offering a look at the faces of community members, and showing the great losses we have faced, both together and apart. The posters will be shared here, in-person events, social media, and videos. The personal qualities shared invite us to glimpse into part of their personality and what they liked to do (i.e. Compassionate, Musician).
Know Overdose Nevada County
A multi-sector, broad-based coalition of more than 20 local organizations, businesses, and institutions has launched the Know Overdose Nevada County campaign to increase knowledge and awareness about drug overdose risks and harm reduction strategies to prevent overdoses and deaths.
Addressing the growing threat of fentanyl and xylazine and advancing equitable approaches
The National Overdose Prevention Leadership Summit (NOPLS) is an annual virtual event that highlights real solutions to the overdose crisis that bridge justice, health care, and public health sectors. Our 2023 event was produced in partnership with SUOPT Western States Opioid and Stimulant Summit and San Diego Imperial HIDTA.
In partnership with SUOPT Western States Opioid and Stimulant Summit and San Diego Imperial HIDTA
Our 2023 virtual leadership summit wins by the numbers
45+ speakers
Our lineup broadly represented the field, including experts from private and public sectors.
1630 attendees
Attendees included overdose prevention coalitions, governmental public health professionals, and people with lived experience.
53 states & territories represented
Our national audience represented every geographic region of the US, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Meet some of our 2023 speakers
Nora Volkow, MD
Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health
Grant Baldwin, PhD
Director, Division of Overdose Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Flavio Marsiglia, PhD, MSW
Regents Professor and Director, Global Center for Applied Health Research, Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions, Arizona State University
Expanding training, capacity building, and other opportunities for emerging leaders in public health
Workforce Pathways for the Public’s Health, managed by PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact (CHLI), supports a more equitable public health workforce. Since 2018, the AmeriCorps VISTA Hub has sponsored service year opportunities supporting overdose prevention and COVID-19 impacts.
In 2023 we expanded the Workforce Pathways initiative and became a key partner for the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) under NNPHI. And through our California Academic Health Department (CAHD) initiative, we launched a Public Health Residency Program for graduate and undergraduate students.
Learn more about Leadership Pathways ⭢
Learn more about the AmeriCorps VISTA Hub ⭢
Learn more about the California Academic Health Department ⭢
Learn more about the California Alliance ⭢
It was a wonderful program that afforded me the opportunity to grow as a young professional and gain real-life working experience.
–AmeriCorps VISTA Alumni
Being able to have a year of boots on the ground capacity building in a local public health department led me to pursue my MPH and sparked my passion for public health.
– AmeriCorps VISTA Alumni
Supporting critical infrastructure needs in local and regional public health departments
In 2023 we expanded our Workforce Pathways for the Public’s Health program and became a key partner for for HHS Region 9 under NNPHI to support public health departments as part of the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) initiative, a groundbreaking investment in the US public health system. To date, we have surveyed partners and gathered 250+ training and technical assistance opportunities that are being prepped for launching proactive trainings, workshops, communities of practice, and a resource library in 2024.
AmeriCorps VISTA Hub wins by the numbers
Through a partnership with AmeriCorps, we launched the largest VISTA sponsorship in California and the second largest in the Western region. Our VISTA Hub program has successfully recruited, placed, and trained AmeriCorps members to work on overdose prevention and COVID-impact in local communities.
176 members total
Since 2018 we have placed 92 members in California—26 were added in 2023.
66 members employed
Our program has helped local public health organizations meet staffing needs and build capacity while offering valuable career placement opportunities.
54 members pursue graduate school
At the end of the service year, some members have gone to graduate school for advanced degrees in public health.
Securing $2.7mil to secure substance-related healthcare in San Benito County, CA
AmeriCorps VISTA member Khanh Nguyen Whited serves at Montage Health Prescribe Safe in Monterey County. In collaboration with Youth Recovery Connections (YRC), a Hollister-based community organization working to increase access to substance-related healthcare, and the Connecticut-based Center for Addiction Studies and Research (CASR), Khanh submitted a grant proposal to the California Department of Health Care Access and Information's Substance Use Earn and Learn Program. The program's funding would allow YRC and CASR to provide education and on-site experience for those wishing to become certified substance use counselors.
YRC and CASR's funding request was granted in full for $2.7 million. Their burgeoning program will provide an outlet for those struggling with substance use to apply their lived experience; in addition, it will enrich San Benito County's stretched behavioral health workforce and increase YRC's capacity for continuing to "meet folks where they're at"—that is, in manners most accessible to those in need.
Khanh Whited
Monterey Safe Prescribe
California Academic Health Department wins by the numbers
The California Academic Health Department strengthens the public health workforce. Through internships, residencies, and faculty/staff exchanges between academia and governmental public health, we are building capacity in the field and creating much needed job opportunities.
Nearly 300 students and recent graduates requested applications for a year-long residency
35 local health departments across California expressed interest in becoming host sites
31 schools & programs of public health in our network
California Alliance wins by the numbers
The California Alliance of Academics and Communities for Public Health Equity (the Alliance) is a new statewide policy, training, and research collaboration. They advance health equity in California by catalyzing the collective power of academics, students, programs, and communities most impacted by health inequities.
109 Academic partners
152 Community partners
271 Total Alliance Members
