1006: PHIG Funding The Future Workforce

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, October 7, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

This morning, another installment of the PHIG Impact Report, a twice a month segment that showcases the Public Health Infrastructure Grant and how your colleagues across the nation are using it. Today, Celeste Jorge, with the Connecticut Department of Public Health, is here to talk about how PHIG funding in her state is being used to support the future public health workforce through the early college experience, or ECE, program, a dual enrollment program offered by the University of Connecticut.

Celeste, thank you for joining us today. I know you're here to talk to us about the new public health course that's being offered to high school students through the ECE program. Can you walk us through how your department made this happen?

CELESTE JORGE: 

So, Connecticut Department of Public Health has used PHIG funding to support the development of an 'Introduction to Public Health' course to be offered through the ECE program at University of Connecticut. So, the program has been long established by UConn, so, we had nothing to do with that, but we're very fortunate to have a close relationship and collaboration with the University of Connecticut public health faculty, and David Gregorio specifically designed this 'Introduction to Public Health' course to be mimicked to exactly what's being offered at the undergraduate level at University of Connecticut to college freshmen. So, he did all the background work and developed the syllabus, and worked to get the course approved and offered. So, we just wanted to support the expansion of the ECE program to incorporate this public health class just to get early exposure to public health as a career option to high schoolers.

SILVERS: 

How does your team see ECE as a way to support the public health workforce?

JORGE: 

So, we see ECE strengthening the pathway for high school students to enter public health. And I know I'm not the only state that's going to say that. We hear college-age students say, 'I never had any idea what a career in public health would be, never even heard of public health as a career option.' We hear this even from early career public health professionals that they had no idea about public health as young as high school. So, this is the way that we're utilizing the ECE program, a super successful, long-standing program, to strengthen the pathway for high school students. And this is just one of the strategies. We're using PHIG funds to get exposure of public health to younger and younger age.

SILVERS: 

And then, once the course is underway, will there be a way for your department to determine how many students the program potentially led to pursue public health?

JORGE: 

We are starting with four high schools this fall, and we met with the faculty, and they are considered adjunct professors for University of Connecticut, but they're at four different high schools geographically spread out throughout Connecticut. And what we do have is a great dashboard that the ECE program hosts in order for people to see who enrolls and what are the outcomes. And it definitely strengthens the post-high school planning for students, because it's quite different from the AP courses on earning credit, and this is a way for students to earn it very affordably. The outcomes really show how the students are continuing on the pathway to either an associate's degree or through a state university and even private universities. The rate of acceptance of these three credits is quite high. It's automatic for state universities and- and the community college system. So, we see a lot of post-high school success with students being able to walk away with potentially, with other ECE courses, potentially a full semester under their belt already. We do know two of the four high schools offering this course this fall that they had to offer a second section, so they are teaching two different sections of students. So, the demand and the interest is obviously there.

SILVERS: 

Given the traction that the program is picking up in Connecticut, what recommendations do you have for other states that could be looking to use their PHIG funding in a similar way?

JORGE: 

I would say, to link up with their state colleges and university systems. There's very likely already a dual enrollment program, whatever they're calling it, in their own respective states, and just build upon the existing program there. Work with faculty, public health faculty at one of those universities to help develop just mimic the introduction of a public health class for a high school audience. It's something that is an easy lift, because we do find this across all of the states that there are dual enrollment programs. So, we feel that it's a program that it's worth investigating to see if that- that's something similar to what Connecticut is doing can be offered in other states.

SILVERS: 

Finally, you mentioned that this program was made possible by the PHIG grant. Can you talk a little bit more about why this kind of funding is so impactful to public health?

JORGE: 

PHIG is so important to the public health agency at the state and local level, because we're all rooted in prevention, right? And just the past five years, have just been a lot of knee jerk reaction, you know, responding to an emergency, responding to controversy, responding to so many different distractions, that what PHIG has allowed for us is to really take a step back, look at public health as a whole, as far as you know, career pathways, but also supporting those that stuck with it, stuck through the past five years. And so, our Office of Workforce Development at Connecticut Department of Public Health has seven staff and two of us have been there for 20 years or longer, and all the others are five years or less. So, it's a way for PHIG to bring us together from all different perspectives. How do we support our staff? What are your experiences, from your perspective, your program area, your tenure? And PHIG just really allows us to support staff across the board, you know, administrative support, we have- the importance of understanding the non-public health skills, you know, non-traditional public health skills, I should say, like budget and finance management and procurement, and how to increase timeliness for hiring. And it also looks at training, and it also looks at well-being. PHIG has been monumental for us in Connecticut, because it's just been a period of healing and and now, looking to grow the future workforce, and we would not be able to do what we're doing without this.

SILVERS: 

Thank you for taking the time to join us today. I know we all appreciate being able to hear about the work your team is doing to build up the future public health workforce and how PHIG funding is supporting programs like yours.

You can learn more about the Public Health Infrastructure Grant and how it supports vital public health programs across the country by visiting the PHIG website. We have a link in the show notes.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.