Reaching Practicing MCH Professionals in Underserved Areas Through Education and Training Program

archived

This announcement solicits applications for grant funds to plan, develop, and implement the Reaching Practicing MCH Professionals in Underserved Areas Through Education and Training Program that is designed to address and strengthen the nation¿s (59 states and jurisdictions) Maternal and Child Health Public Health system by developing the public health workforce through innovative strategies that address the special educational needs of diverse public health professionals who provide MCH public health services in isolated, underserved,  communities, including rural and frontier areas, U.S. jurisdictions, and Indian reservations.  The Reaching Practicing MCH Professionals in Underserved Areas Through Education and Training Program is dedicated to serving diverse  MCH public health professionals in isolated geographic areas of the country who are underserved through traditional education programs and may not otherwise have access to pursue their education.  Many challenges face rural and isolated MCH professionals, including: 1) The populations that MCH professionals are serving, mothers and children in rural and isolated areas, face health disparities and disparities in access to care compared to the general population (The Health and Well-Being of Children in Rural Areas, September 2011 and The Health and Well-Being of American Indian and Alaska Native Children, 2013); 2) Within evolving public health systems, public health professionals report that they have not received formal training in the skill areas currently required for their positions (http://www.naccho.org/topics/infrastructure/profile/upload/LHD_workforce-Final.pdf); and 3) MCH public health professionals in rural and isolated areas do not have ready access to schools or programs of public health that address their particular needs.  This program announcement is designed to provide funding to support innovative solutions to these challenges facing MCH public health professionals in rural and isolated areas.  Targeting this training to diverse MCH public health professionals in underserved and  isolated geographic areas of the country will help close the gap on availability of quality health care to low income, uninsured, isolated, vulnerable and special needs populations and meet their unique health care needs.  Because there are many areas of the country where public health workers lack access to affordable public health training to meet their needs, this program is intended to assist working maternal and child public health professionals to obtain training that focuses on MCH content and skills development while maintaining their responsibilities to their family and work.  In particular, this training program is designed for health professionals who are not able to pursue a graduate degree but need more intensive public health education than is provided through short term continuing education events such as webinars. Applicants are required to develop programs that use creative methods to target students/participants who may not otherwise have access to pursue their education.  The Reaching Practicing MCH Professionals in Underserved Areas Through Education and Training Program will develop in-depth training tailored to the specific needs of public health professionals.  Innovative programs will emphasize flexible schedules; work closely with employers of MCH public health professionals to identify, recruit and select students who would benefit from the acquisition of new or expanded knowledge; and utilize distance methods.  The credits received from the Reaching Practicing MCH Professionals in Underserved Areas Through Education and Training Program could be applied to an undergraduate or graduate degree in the future.

High