National Health Corps: A Case Study for Training as a Driver for Member Engagement Sara Wein, MSS, MLSP, LSW Caitlin Hoge, MPS Jennifer Larramore, MPH

Session Objectives Use National Health Corps as a case study to: Gain an understanding of how program-specific, as well as broader-based (CNCS) core competencies create the foundation for member-led training Gain an understanding of how member-led training promotes member engagement in the national service experience Identify which of the three key components are applicable to guide member training within your own national service program Presentation of National Health Corps (NHC) Training Model (45 mins): Utilizing a PowerPoint, the facilitators will provide an overview of the NHC training model, focusing on the 3 key components. The facilitators will define the 6 core competencies and provide examples of member-led trainings from each of NHC’s 4 operating sites. Through this presentation, participants will gain an understanding of how program-specific, as well as broader-based (CNCS) core competencies create the foundation for member-led training. Independent Assessment (15 mins): Participants will complete a self-assessment tool on their own program’s training model, and identify: a.) applicability; b.) opportunities and/or challenges to utilization; c.) potential for increasing member engagement. Group Brainstorm (30 mins): Participants will break into groups to share take-aways from the independent assessment. Groups will identify 3 core competencies that apply to all national service members.

Who is National Health Corps (NHC)? An AmeriCorps national direct service program established in 1994 Mission: to foster healthy communities by delivering and connecting those who need it most with health and wellness education, benefits and services, while developing tomorrow’s compassionate health leaders Long-Term Goal: Improve health outcomes in underserved communities throughout Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago and North Florida

NHC Structure PARENT ORGANIZATION OPERATING SITES NHC PROGRAMS HOST SITES NHC PROGRAMS OPERATING SITES PARENT ORGANIZATION Health Federation of Philadelphia 88 members Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition NHC Florida 23 member slots Host Sites Allegheny County Health Department NHC Pittsburgh 18 member slots NHC Philadelphia 27 members slots Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago NHC Chicago 20 member slots

How do we do it? Each year, National Health Corps (NHC) recruits, trains and places emerging health leaders In organizations that aim to improve the health outcomes of underserved communities throughout Chicago, North Florida, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In 2015, 88 National Health Corps members served in more than 60 organizations, reaching nearly 80,000 kids and adults.

National Health Corps Objectives Empower youth and adults to make smart choices about their health and lead healthier lives Objective #2: Foster emerging leaders’ knowledge and skills related to professional development, commitment to health-related careers, ethic of service, and reducing health disparities Objective #3: Support organizations that aim to improve health outcomes in underserved communities Mention on this slide that this presentation will be focusing on the member development focus area as we break down the NHC training model

NHC Member Development Activities Trainings Hands-on Experience Opportunities for Reflection To achieve the second NHC program objective aimed at member development, National Health Corps staff and partners provide members with three major activities: Trainings: NHC training is a shared responsibility between members, program staff and host sites where members serve. All play a role in assessing members’ training needs, designing and delivering trainings to members and continuously evaluating and improving NHC training goals and objectives. Hands on Experience: NHC members gain hands-on-experience in their service positions at their host sites, through professional development committees that they participate in and lead, and through outside service/volunteer opportunities they engage in throughout their 46-week term of service. Reflection: NHC members participate in a number of activities that provide them with opportunities to reflect on their personal and professional growth, and overall service experience. Activities include, blogging, interactive reflection activities such as personal asset mapping, roundtables and group sharing, visual representation activities, one-on-one discussions and case studies. the purposes of this presentation we will be focusing on Training

NHC Training Model Key Components: Core Competencies Member-led Committees Evaluation Core Competencies – the knowledge and skills that NHC expects all members to acquire through participation in national service Member-led Committees – charged with planning trainings which incorporate NHC’s core competencies; they are critical drivers of member engagement, creating an esprit de corps, and fostering leadership and skills Evaluation: It is important to continuously monitor how well trainings meet each core competency and members’ expectations. Therefore, staff conducts surveys following each following each monthly member training.

NHC Core Competencies Public Health Public Health Practice Skills Cultural Competency Communication Professional Development Civic Engagement NHC members receive a series of trainings delivered by NHC program staff and partners, as well as host sites where they serve throughout their 46-week term of service that focus on a number of core competencies. During the 46-week term of service, all NHC sites require members to attend one full day of monthly "in-service trainings"based on the NHC training core competencies, which were adopted from training core competencies recommended by the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice. Thus, no matter where NHC members are serving in the country, all members will leave their term of service with a standardized set of core public health knowledge and skills that they can utilize in their future careers and service opportunities. During members' 46-week of service, NHC assesses training needs through formal surveys and engages members in the development of training activities to meet their specific interests and needs. NHC host site supervisors develop a host site-specific training plan for members that is reviewed by NHC operating site staff during quarterly program visits. Other than the actually competencies here are some ideas for what we can talk about: How we created them How they are presented to members How members utilize them

How are NHC Members trained? Pre-Service Orientation Monthly training days Outside training events organized by members (e.g. conferences, speaking events) EXAMPLES OF TRAINING

What does an NHC Member Training Day look like? All NHC members participate in at least one full day of member training a month. Some components of these training days are: Trainings led by the member-led committees that meet the NHC Core Competencies (e.g. lectures, roundtables) Updates and announcement from program staff Training led by staff, if needed, for upcoming program requirements Corps support activity (e.g. reflection, team building, esprit de corps) Committee updates

Member-led Committees Each of the four operating sites has some variation of these four member-led committees: Training Communications Corps Support Service Things to discuss Purpose of each committee Member requirements related to committees How these committees increase member engagement, create and esprit de corps, and foster leadership and skills – this is the key point we need to make

Evaluation Surveys following each member training evaluate progress towards core competencies Survey development and evaluation training Needs assessment Send out a survey to corps

Questions?

Individual Assessment 15 minutes Do we want to create a worksheet hand out for this or just have the questions up on the screen? I am leaning towards a handout but what are your thoughts? As a reminder here are the goals of the assessment: Independent Assessment (15 mins): Participants will complete a self-assessment tool on their own program’s training model, and identify: a.) applicability; b.) opportunities and/or challenges to utilization; c.) potential for increasing member engagement. I am thinking we can ask some variation of these questions for each of the 3 key components (core competencies, member-led committees, evaluation) Do you utilize (insert key component) in your program’s member training model? A. If so, how? If you do not, answer these: What opportunities are there for you to utilize (insert key component) in your program’s member training model? What barriers or challenges do you face in utilizing (insert key component in your program’s member training model? How would adding (insert key component) to your program’s member training model increase member engagement? If you do, answer these: What success have you had with (insert key component)? What challenges have you faced with (insert key component)? How has (insert key component) increase member engagement in your program? Question about Key Core Competency

Group Brainstorm 30 minutes These are the goals of this that we wrote in the proposal Share results of individual assessment Develop 3 core competencies that can be applied to any national service program. I am thinking that they can talk in small groups and we can have some prompts for them? Do we do a present back to the large group?

Thank you! Caitlin Hoge, Program Director, NHC Chicago – caitlin.stack@phimc.org Jennifer Larramore, Program Director, NHC Florida – jlarramore@nefhsc.org Sara Wein, Program Director, NHC Philadelphia - swein@healthfederation.org Prep work – Flesh out notes on all slides Do Individual Assessment