2024 Annual Report
Welcome letter
Since 2012, PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact’s (CHLI) commitment to supporting teams and individuals to address public health’s greatest challenges hasn’t changed. Our adaptive approach to building healthy communities has been responsive to the ever-shifting landscape of hot-button issues in public health, and the accompanying funding and policy environments.
To better communicate our impact and anticipate the needs of communities going forward, we are excited to share a new framing for our work as a public health “do tank” focused on creating change by cultivating leadership, catalyzing learning networks, and strengthening cross-sector partnerships. This framing leverages our deep experience supporting teams and individuals from communities across the country, regardless of issue area. You’ll see this new alignment across CHLI’s body of work and how our programs are evaluated and presented to the public.
As the field of public health faces new levels of uncertainty and shifting approaches, we shall continue to pivot and build momentum in partnership with teams and individuals, in communities around the country, committed to the highest vision of public health.
CHLI by the numbers
The highlights below reflect cross-program evaluation data and impact across our portfolio of work since 2012.
local leaders & future public health professionals
1,945
communities represented nationally
293
states & territories
53
CROSS-PROGRAM EVALUATION
Measuring impact across our body of work
All of our programs are rigorously evaluated, and the aggregated data reflects a consistent story. Participants in our programs and initiatives overwhelmingly report strengthend skills and ability to create a positive impact.
97% worked on projects that had a positive impact in their community
96% would recommend our programs to a colleague
94% applied skills to their everyday work
IMPACT ONE
Helping teams and individuals build agile leadership skills and ability to work across sectors to address public health’s greatest challenges
LEADERSHIP
NETWORKS
PARTNERSHIPS
1k+ leaders
In 2024, 28 individuals participated in our National Leadership Academy (NLAPH) leadership training program. Our work to support lead-free communities continued with 42 individuals joining our Lead-Free Communities (NLAPH-LFC) cohort.
212 teams
The 6 teams in Cohort 13 worked on an applied project in their community, and 11 teams in the NLAPH-LFC cohort continued to build their ability to work across sectors to eliminate lead in local communities.
53 states & territories
Teams addressed behavioral health, overdose prevention, environmental health, and other issues in local communities with diverse geographic and economic conditions across the US.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
Helping teams work across sectors to reduce lead in local communities
CHLI partnered with CDC National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) to support its Lead-Free Communities (LFC) Initiative and provide training and support to a cohort of teams working to eliminate lead in local communities. In addition to supporting the first-ever LFC Summit, CHLI helped to design and disseminate CDC’s Lead-Free Communities Toolkit, a new resource for building local partnerships to address lead contamination.
“We leveraged a coalition of partners to support our lead work and I was able to prioritize community voice and also engage new partnerships.”
IMPACT TWO
Accelerating local impact and building coalitions to save lives from overdose
LEADERSHIP
PARTNERSHIPS
NETWORKS
$1.55M for overdose prevention coalitions
In 2024, our California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN) became the financial administrator for 19 coalitions, reaching 13M Californians.
110k+ doses of naloxone distributed
Coalitions in our network provided prevention education to 70k community members and distributed naloxone—a lifesaving overdose reversal drug.
900+ registrants for our national webinars
Registration hit an all-time high for our free national webinars highlighting issues such as policy solutions, indigenous harm reduction, and opioid settlement funding.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
CHLI & Berkeley Media Studies launch messaging guide for communicating about overdose prevention
To support community coalitions and local leaders in their efforts to communicate effectively about substance use treatment and overdose prevention, we partnered with Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) to develop messaging and communication resources.
IMPACT THREE
Supporting the next generation of leaders through internships, residencies, and service year placements
LEADERSHIP
PARTNERSHIPS
199 members
Since 2018, CHLI has partnered with AmeriCorps to launch the largest VISTA sponsorship in California and the second largest in the Western region, with 49 members serving in local communities and supporting overdose prevention and COVID-impact projects in 2024. In 2022, we launched the California Academic Health Department (CAHD) initiative to build a new generation of public health leaders.
80 participants went on to full-time employment
Our AmeriCorps members have been hired by their local host sites or partner organizations, helping fill long term public health needs. And public health residents in our California Academic Health Department (CAHD) initiative took their education into the real world and have been hired full time.
30 host sites
We partnered with local health departments, coalitions, nonprofits, and community based organizations across California to provide support and capacity building via our AmeriCorps VISTA Hub program and California Academic Health Department initiative.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
AmeriCorps VISTA Hub members build their network at APHA 2024
With funding from AmeriCorp for professional devopment, eight CHLI AmeriCorps VISTA members attended the American Public Health Association (APHA) Conference in Minneapolis, MN. Members had the opportunity to learn from and connect with practitioners, researchers, and advocates in the field of public health.
“Don’t hesitate to network! Connecting with people in similar fields can lead to valuable insights and collaborations. Everyone is there to learn and share, so embrace the opportunity to expand your network.”
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
Public health resident Sofia Reyes engages the San Diego community for World Tuberculosis Day
Sofia Reyes, a public health resident in our California Academic Health Department (CAHD) initiative was placed at County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency at the Tuberculosis Control and Refugee Health Branch. During her time, Sofia worked on community engagement projects, including raising awareness of tuberculosis on World Tuberculosis Day.
“During my masters degree and my undergrad, my public health professors would say ‘public
health is so collaborative.’ But it wasn’t until this position that I truly understood. [The] many
projects that I worked on [required] communicating between different groups [and] different
teams.”
IMPACT 4
Strengthening the public health workforce with training and capacity building for professionals
LEADERSHIP
23 grantee health departments
As Region 9 Hub lead for the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), we build the capacity of 23 grantee health departments.
424 participants
In 2024 we hosted 24 PHIG-sponsored events for 424 participants, including the first in-person Region 9 PHIG Hub Convening in September.
36 continuing education certificates
Through a partnership with the University of Arizona Public Health Training Center (PHTC), we issued 36 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) certificates for participants in a PHIG-sponsored webinar.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
CHLI and Partners Host Region 9 PHIG Convening and Drive Progress
On September 4 and 5, PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact (CHLI) hosted the first in-person Region 9 PHIG Hub Convening in Long Beach, CA, in partnership with the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI).
The event brought together over 100 participants representing 30 Region 9 PHIG direct recipient and sub-recipient health departments, as well as regional and national partners and experts.
“Getting to hear from other [local health jurisdictions] about what they are doing with funds and how they are approaching processes like succession planning, hiring, and workforce development [was the most useful part of the Region 9 PHIG Hub Convening].”
Learn more about our programs and initiatives
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Building adaptive leadership skills and ability to work across sectors
The Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (LAPH) provides training to individuals and teams to advance their leadership skills and ability to build partnerships and leverage local resources.
Teams collaborate on an applied health leadership project to address an issue in their community and work to create lasting impact through policy and systems change.
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Accelerating local impact and building networks to save lives from overdose
The Overdose Prevention Network supports local, regional, and statewide overdose prevention efforts.
The California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN) is the largest overdose prevention network in the US, with active coalitions serving 85% of California’s 39 million people and an cohort-based Accelerator program for local coalitions.
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Transforming the public health workforce through training, capacity building, and direct placement of professionals
Workforce Pathways for the Public’s Health creates a stronger public health workforce.
We offer internships, employment, and service year opportunities for current and future public health professionals and partner with AmeriCorps, governmental public health departments, and schools and programs of public health.
