WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Current Initiatives

While the Workforce Development and Capacity Building team provides process support across AMCHP’s entire portfolio, we also direct multiple ongoing initiatives/related sets of discrete activities. Have questions about what’s listed or want to learn more? Send an e-mail to workforce@amchp.org and a member of our team will get back to you.

Current Initiatives

Leadership Lab is AMCHP’s flagship, cohort-based leadership development program for Title V (and affiliated) professionals. It is 100% remote, framed by the MCH Leadership Competencies, guided by adult learning principles, and incorporates three core components: 

  • Learning: formal and informal opportunities that include live trainings, workshops, collaborative projects, and structured dialogues. 
  • Mentoring/coaching: transmission of knowledge, wisdom, experience, and support from experienced professionals and/or peers with whom participants are carefully matched. 
  • Peer-to-peer interaction: the cohort model promotes engagement and the development of a sustainable professional network. 

Leadership Lab is composed of five cohorts that run concurrently: 

  • Adolescent Health Leaders Cohort (AHLC)  
  • Family Leaders Cohort (FLC) 
  • New Director Leaders Cohort (NDLC) 
  • Management Accelerator Cohort (MAC) 
  • MCH Epi Peer-to-Peer Cohort (MCH Epi P2P) 

During this nine-month experience, participants attend and spend time processing content from webinars addressing cross-cutting topics that are relevant for leaders working in/with Title V in many different capacities, join with cohort peers for interactive learning and discussion sessions, complete individual and collaborative activities aligned with their identified leadership goals, and communicate regularly with a matched mentor. 

Visit the Leadership Lab webpage to learn more about the core program components, information for prospective participants and mentors, and how to access the application. Leadership Lab is funded through AMCHP’s cooperative agreement with the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Division of State and Community Health.

 

The Graduate Student Epidemiology Program (GSEP) is a paid, 10-week, 100% remote summer internship aimed at diversifying the pipeline of early career professionals entering MCH epidemiology and tracking into state/territory/local agency leadership positions. GSEP provides ample opportunities for interns to learn and practically apply MCH epidemiology and leadership competencies, as well as cultivate, sustain, and grow connections with current MCH epidemiologists and a diverse array of related professionals.  

Accepted students (currently enrolled in a masters or doctoral level program in epidemiology, MCH, or a related field) are matched with a host site for a 35 hour/week remote internship. Interns receive supervision and mentorship from a practicing epidemiologist and complete/present on a vetted project that addresses one or more of the following emphasis areas: needs assessment, data evaluation, and program monitoring and evaluation. They also participate in 5 hours/week of enrichment activities organized by AMCHP; this includes didactic learning sessions, structured small peer group discussions, office hours with leaders from the field, and a “menu” of relevant readings, videos, and other forms of media to prompt reflection and growth. Starting in 2022, AMCHP plans to implement an in-person orientation component in which interns travel to their assigned host site.

We will post an application link for students and host sites (with eligibility details and a program timeline) when the next cycle opens in late 2021. GSEP is administered by AMCHP with funds from the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Office of Epidemiology and Research.

Learn more and apply

The MCH Essentials Series is a continuously refreshed collection of MCH topics, accessible anytime and from anywhere, covering content that is foundational for effective and equitable leadership across roles and settings. Topics range from MCH history to racial equity to youth empowerment. It is for current and aspiring MCH professionals from all disciplines (including youth and families) and levels of leadership. Content is designed to meet a wide range of knowledge and skill development needs.

Each topic presents content via narrated and interactive slide presentations, or AMCHP webinars that have been trimmed or otherwise adapted to support adult learning. Topics cover between 20 to 70 minutes of content and include additional resources. The tiles below identify each of the currently available topic areas, along with essential questions that each seeks to help MCH professionals answer. Use the left and right arrow buttons below to scroll between topics.

View the Series

All communities have been impacted by natural disasters, human-caused disasters, and disease outbreaks – and often simultaneously. AMCHP works alongside federal partners and others at all levels of the socioecological model to ensure that women, children, and families are planned for in the event of emergencies. We do this by helping state/territory MCH  programs use an equity lens to build their emergency preparedness and response (EPR) capacity, more effectively advocate for MCH population needs and priorities in the context of broader response efforts, and ensure staff at all levels of leadership feel prepared to support effective individual-, family- and systems-level response outcomes. Click here to learn more about and explore initiatives within AMCHP’s EPR portfolio.

In addition to administering the NextGen cohort of Leadership Lab and the GSEP program, AMCHP invests substantial time and energy into establishing platforms for students and early career professionals to learn and grow. As part of the AMCHP Annual Conference, we offer technical assistance on student-led abstract submissions, host roundtable sessions where more established professionals provide encouragement and practical support for dissertations or other in progress work, honor emerging leaders from all ten regions, and make scholarships available when funding permits. We also advise the National MCH Workforce Development Center on their efforts to provide future professionals with meaningful experiences working in state/territory Title V agencies, and promote academic-practice partnerships through joint efforts with faculty from the Centers of Excellence in MCH Education, Science, and Practice and other federally funded training programs.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

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