NYS Citizen Public
Health Training Program
As a New York State citizen, we invite YOU to become a designated Public Health Champion in your community.
Over the past year, New Yorkers have come together to limit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and support health and wellbeing in their communities. Governor Cuomo has pledged to use this experience to build an even stronger network of community health leaders to help now — and to prepare for the future.
Cornell University’s Public Health Program has developed a four-part online training program to help build community-led initiatives and support surrounding prevention, detection, and response in the event of public health emergencies. With two hours of content per week, each module will build up your core knowledge, skills, and abilities, along with specific “calls to action” to help you translate learning into action within your community and network. Each module will also have one or more live (and recorded) conversations with experts to share up-to-date information and to answer key questions.
The goal of this program is to have at least one Public Health Champion in every neighborhood and community. Champions will understand the state of health in NY and the factors that influence health. Champions will have foundational knowledge related to key public health issues and skills to connect and communicate with peers, allies, and key social resources. As a Champion, you will be able to take an active role in helping your community prevent and rebuild from the effects of COVID-19. Over the longer term, you’ll be a part of an informed network that can be mobilized to share information and plan for prevention, detection, and response in the event of public health emergencies.
Program OverviewIn this module, you will build your understanding of COVID-19 and the state of the virus today. You will explore factors affecting transmission and the seriousness of the disease, learn long-term health impacts, and determine its effects on state- and county-wide populations. You’ll also determine the populations on which it places a disproportionate burden.
Next, you will explore methods to prevent COVID-19, including personal behavior, community education and empowerment, testing, quarantine and isolation, contact tracing, and other advisories and mandates. You’ll learn vaccine fast facts, resistance, hesitancy, and strategies to overcome vaccine concerns and engage key populations.
In this module, you will learn to define what exactly “health” means. You’ll explore preventative healthcare, healthcare access, and global and national causes of death and disability, as well as health in New York State.
Next, you will explore the many factors influencing health, including the social and structural determinants of health and the impacts of racism and discrimination. Finally, you’ll discover why people behave as they do, from individual to external factors, and how you can support behavior change.
In this module, you will gain an introduction to the goals of public health. This includes a focus on equity and justice, as well as prevention and preparedness.
Next, you will explore strategies for improving public health. You’ll learn the power of data, identify and understand your community and its disparities, explore motivation methods to increase community health, and rethink what makes communication successful.
In the final module, you will learn about the pressing public health issues of our time. You’ll focus on noncommunicable and communicable diseases, mental health and addiction, air and water pollution, and health impacts of environment and climate change.
As you complete the program, you’ll plan ahead for preparedness and action by learning about methods for community engagement, trust building, networking, NYS response plans, and next steps.