Category: Program Planning and Policy Development

Primary Competency Area

Reducing Promotion and Consumption of Ultra-Processed Food

Course Objective

Define and explain the impact of ultra-processed food on human and planetary health
List factors that contribute to the ubiquity of ultra-processed foods
Describe how health professionals can raise public awareness of the harms of ultra-processed food via media literacy and social marketing
Identify at least two policy interventions to address misleading product packaging and unhealthy product formulations
Describe how taxation and regulation approaches can be used to combat ultra-processed food
Describe strategies to promote and subsidize healthy food and beverages, including tap water

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Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Experts:
Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH, MPH
Distinguished Professor of Public Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy & Director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Craig Willingham, MPH
Deputy Director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Erinn C. Bacchus, MPH
Doctoral Student, Community Health and Health Policy
Graduate Student Assistant, Healthy CUNY

Jessica Walsh, MPH
Assistant, CUNY School of Public Health

This two-part course developed by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center (PHTC) aims to understand ultra-processed food and explore how health departments can combat the promotion of ultra-processed food.

In Part I, we will develop a better understanding of ultra-processed food, and how it promotes negative health outcomes particularly for some populations.

In Part II, we will explore how health departments can combat the promotion of ultra-processed food.

Participants will be able to:

Define and explain the impact of ultra-processed food on human and planetary health
List factors that contribute to the ubiquity of ultra-processed foods
Describe how health professionals can raise public awareness of the harms of ultra-processed food via media literacy and social marketing
Identify at least two policy interventions to address misleading product packaging and unhealthy product formulations
Describe how taxation and regulation approaches can be used to combat ultra-processed food
Describe strategies to promote and subsidize healthy food and beverages, including tap water

Community Engagement: The People’s Approach to Improving Health and Social Outcomes

Course Objective

Define community engagement
Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice

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Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Expert:
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Founder and Board President, Health Equity Initiative; Principal, Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact (SECI)

This course developed by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center (PHTC) focuses on community engagement, and the role of local health departments in engaging local communities. It focuses on strategies for “true” community engagement, which is about collaborating with and empowering local communities, and recognizing the expert in every community member and every leader representing the community. It also provides an overview of case studies, best practices and strategies for community dialogue and engagement and/or integrating community engagement in public health practice.

Participants will be able to:

Define community engagement
Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice

State changes to alcohol availability during COVID-19: What can state/local public health departments do to protect communities’ health?

Course Objective

Describe trends in alcohol use and related harms over the last two decades.
Explain state level changes to alcohol availability during the pandemic.
Summarize state and local public health strategies to curtail industry sponsored efforts to increase in alcohol availability to protect population level harms.

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Date: May 4th 2021

Presenter:
Sean J. Haley, PhD, MPH
Asst. Professor of Health Policy and Management
City University of New York’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Sean J. Haley, PhD, MPH, addresses the alarming increase in alcohol availability and consumption over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. He starts by providing context to the state of Alcohol Use Disorders amongst the U.S. population over the years. In detail, he then discusses the changes in attitudes and behaviors towards alcohol as the pandemic began to worsen and stay-at-home orders were placed. He highlights the unique characteristics of this increased consumption, identifying individual, social and structural factors. Dr. Haley makes sure to emphasize that this is not a temporary problem and substantiates his statement with research from past disasters, decade long trends and industry motivations. He then switches to what can be done to control this problem. He walks us through the many action steps, at varying levels, that can be taken by state and local public health departments in order to protect communities’ health.

Participants will learn the following:

Describe trends in alcohol use and related harms over the last two decades.
Explain state level changes to alcohol availability during the pandemic.
Summarize state and local public health strategies to curtail industry sponsored efforts to increase in alcohol availability to protect population level harms.

Breaking Through Public Health Bureaucracy: tools and tips to successfully navigate internal administration and processes

Course Objective

Describe how the federal government appropriates funding to public health agencies and other entities
Describe the key challenges faced by health departments implementing federally funded programs
Identify 3 strategies to overcome challenges and enhance efficiency in program implementation

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Date: April 6, 2021

Presenter:
Jennifer McKeever, MSW, MPH
Founder and Principal of WE Public Health, LLC

Rishika Desai, MPH
Senior Analyst at the Association of State and Territorial Health Official (ASTHO)

In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Jennifer McKeever, MSW, MPH & Rishika Desai, MPH, discuss the complexities of public health bureaucracy and the best ways to navigate it. They start by talking about what these bureaucratic issues might look like, how the pandemic has impacted them and the type of problems they might create at different levels. Jennifer and Rishika go on to describe how the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) tried to assess this in their recent qualitative study and highlight some of the key findings and recommendations for overcoming administrative bottlenecks that slow down program implementation. Through a conversation with the audience on what difficulties they’ve experienced, our presenters try to determine the common root causes. Lastly, they share ways in which agencies have responded to these challenges, now and in the past, and guide us through the unique steps that research has helped identify as tools to solve at least some of the bureaucratic problems we face in public health.

Participants will learn the following:

Describe how the federal government appropriates funding to public health agencies and other entities
Describe the key challenges faced by health departments implementing federally funded programs
Identify 3 strategies to overcome challenges and enhance efficiency in program implementation

Reducing Obesity and Diet-Related Diseases by Limiting Predatory Marketing of Unhealthy Food

Course Objective

Learning Objectives for Part I: Understanding Predatory Marketing

Define targeted and predatory marketing.
Distinguish between different types of predatory marketing, with examples.
Describe digital media avenues used for predatory marketing.
Explain how targeted marketing of unhealthy food leads to negative health outcomes, particularly for certain populations.

Learning Objectives for Part II: What Health Departments Can Do to Combat Predatory Marketing

Describe ways to increase awareness of predatory marketing in communities.
Describe how local, state and federal governments can regulate predatory marketing.
List at least 2 actionable strategies for communities to decrease predatory marketing practices.
List 3 policy measures that could be taken to limit predatory marketing of unhealthy food at the city/local, state OR national level.

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Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Presenter:
Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH, MPH
Distinguished Professor of Public Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
Director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Unhealthy food is the leading cause of premature death and preventable illness around the world today. Predatory marketing makes a significant contribution to this burden. Public health professionals can play an important role in reducing the prevalence and exposure to predatory marketing. This two-part training module develops an understanding of the current landscape of predatory marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, and how it promotes negative health outcomes particularly for vulnerable populations. This program will define the role of health departments in addressing predatory marketing, outline ways health departments can help document predatory marketing in their communities, and provide recommendations and examples of policy engagement activities public health professionals can get involved in.

Learning Objectives for Part I: Understanding Predatory Marketing

Define targeted and predatory marketing.
Distinguish between different types of predatory marketing, with examples.
Describe digital media avenues used for predatory marketing.
Explain how targeted marketing of unhealthy food leads to negative health outcomes, particularly for certain populations.

Learning Objectives for Part II: What Health Departments Can Do to Combat Predatory Marketing

Describe ways to increase awareness of predatory marketing in communities.
Describe how local, state and federal governments can regulate predatory marketing.
List at least 2 actionable strategies for communities to decrease predatory marketing practices.
List 3 policy measures that could be taken to limit predatory marketing of unhealthy food at the city/local, state OR national level.

An Overview of the Policy Process in Public Health and the Need for Systems Thinking

Course Objective

Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process

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Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

Engaging in policy making is an essential activity of public health agencies and staff to achieve the goals of Public Health 3.0 and to work collaboratively to address the social determinants of health. This training provides an overview of the policy making process as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, draws on the COVID-19 and other complex public health problems to discuss the challenges commonly faced by public health agencies during this policy process, and makes the case for using a systems thinking approach to overcome these policy roadblocks and address unintended consequences.

Participants will learn about the following:

Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process

Building BRIDGES to Communicate with Multi-Sector Partners

Course Objective

Describe the process of identifying others’ positions including values, actions, and resources
Explain how differing definitions of key issues and problems can create misunderstanding
Identify systems and structures that support collaboration

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Date: September 10, 2019

Presenter:
Dr. Anne Marie Liebel, EdD.
President
Health Comunication Partners LLC.

This month’s Log-in2Learn is the second in a three-part series designed to help you convey public health messages that resonate with audiences outside of public health. Using the approach of building BRIDGES, Dr. Anne Marie Liebel concentrates on communication strategies to use with potential collaborative partners.

It is well known that multi-sectoral partnerships are key to addressing some of society’s most deep-seated problems, and that multiple perspectives are beneficial in seeking to affect meaningful and sustainable change. It is essential in such collaborative efforts to be able to build on commonalities, and communicate across differences, recognizing various stakeholders’ goals, assumptions, and approaches.

Drawing on policy sociology and inquiry-as-stance, this webinar explores communication to and from policy-makers, the media, and other potential partners. You’ll have the opportunity to explore the main challenges in successful cross-sector communication. You’ll examine how communicating with multi sector partners contrasts with communicating with a public health audience. And you’ll learn the steps for building bridges to potential collaborators.

Participants will learn how to:

Describe the process of identifying others’ positions including values, actions, and resources
Explain how differing definitions of key issues and problems can create misunderstanding
Identify systems and structures that support collaboration

Policy Engagement: An Essential Role for Public Health Agencies in Public Health 3.0

Course Objective

Describe the policy engagement process in public health
Identify approaches that public health agencies can use to inform policy development
Describe how the elements of the community health improvement process can be used to support effective policy engagement to achieve public health goals

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Date: August 6, 2019

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

In this Month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, participants learn about various policy-focused approaches that public health agencies can utilize from Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS. The lecture takes a systems thinking approach and acknowledges that policy making is a rarely linear process with stages occurring simultaneously. From policy around motor vehicle related incident and fluoridation of drinking water through the transition to Public Health surveillance, this webinar walks participants through the evolution of policy engagement up to Public Health 3.0 and the role of the Chief Health Strategist. Focusing on partnerships and cross-cutting activities such as stakeholder engagement, collaboration and communication Slvia Pirani provides an overview of the policy engagement process.

Participants will learn how to:

Describe the policy engagement process in public health
Identify approaches that public health agencies can use to inform policy development
Describe how the elements of the community health improvement process can be used to support effective policy engagement to achieve public health goals

Building Logic Models

Course Objective

Construct a public health program logic model based on given program information

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Date: December 14, 2018

Presenter:
New York City-Long Island-Lower Tri-County Public Health Training Center with revisions made by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center

In this training program, participants will build a logic model based on a scenarios related to improving access to healthy food in underserved neighborhoods. Participants will be asked to create a logic model based on components in the scenario and will be able to compare their logic model to an expert logic model.

Activism and Health Promotion: A Primer

Course Objective

Describe influential frameworks for understanding activist successes and failures
Discuss contemporary social movements and their relevance to health promotion and public health
Describe common strategic challenges that face health activists

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Date: October 2, 2018

Presenter:
Merlin Chowkwanyun, PhD, MPH
Donald Gemson Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

In October 2018’s Log-in2Learn webinar, participants learn from Dr. Merlin Chowkwanyun about the history and role of social movements in driving public health and health promotion efforts in the United States. The lecture addresses the considerations made by activists in health advocacy work, such as: opportunities for conciliation, confrontation, or compromise; rhetoric and framing of messages; audience sensitivity in social movements; positionality of activist groups; and the use of coalitions. Dr. Chowkwanyun applies these frameworks to describe and evaluate the strategies of past health topics associated with activist efforts, including: healthcare access, mass incarceration, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, environmental justice, and vaccination. At the end of the lecture, Dr. Chowkwanyun describes three recent movements – Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and Me Too – and forecasts their role in health policy development.