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Public Health
System Transformation Update
A monthly update from the Joint Leadership Team sharing how, together, we're creating a seamless, responsive, publicly-supported public health system in Minnesota
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It's our time: Clear, consistent communications can help people understand public health
It’s no secret that the world of public health is facing a great deal of turmoil right now.
We know: Minnesota’s quality of life depends on thriving, vibrant communities.
We know: Where we live provides the building blocks for long-term health and wellbeing, including protection from the spread of infectious diseases and environmental threats, clean water, strong schools, sustaining jobs, community connectedness, access to health care, and other important community support.
We know: In public health, we work to change these surroundings for the better so that it’s easier for all of us in Minnesota to be our healthiest no matter who we are or where we live.
But: Do others know?
Now, more than ever, we all need to be able to talk clearly and consistently about public health, no matter where we are, centering the values and aspirations we share as communities and as Minnesotans. |
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We need to lean on partners outside “traditional” public health and equip them to share how public health helps them thrive.
We need to keep building trusting relationships with decisionmakers, so they come to us for honest and empathetic answers to their public health questions.
Read on to learn more about a recent report that illuminates the past, present, and future of Minnesota’s public health system, a research-driven framework developed specifically for Minnesota to help you talk about your work in a way that cuts through the noise, and resources to help you and your communications staff talk about public health for maximum impact.
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How are you telling the story of public health in your community? Let us know! |
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How can you help people understand the role and value of public health? Try these steps
It’s hard to cut through the noise and build communications that stick, while also centering prevention, population health, and equity. Read on for some concrete steps to create messages that work:
- First, start with a shared goal and shared values
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Next, use this formula before digging into the data:
Value + People + Goal + Problem + Solution
- Finally, bring your work to life with stories and data
First, start with a shared goal and shared values
If we want our messages to stick, research overwhelmingly shows we should ground our public health communications and talking points in shared values and common goals.
Consider this excerpt from the introduction to a recent report to the Minnesota Legislature from the Joint Leadership Team for System Transformation, which discusses "why" of public health as much as the "what":
Minnesota’s quality of life depends on thriving, vibrant communities. Where we live provides the building blocks for long-term health and wellbeing, including protection from the spread of infectious diseases and environmental threats, clean water, strong schools, sustaining jobs, community connectedness, access to health care, and other important community support.
In public health, we work to change these surroundings for the better so that it’s easier for all of us in Minnesota to be our healthiest no matter who we are or where we live.
– Introduction, Public Health System Development in Minnesota (Report to the Legislature, Jan. 2025) (PDF)
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When we start from a common goal or shared values, we’re letting the person or group we’re talking to know that we’re in it together—public health is here to help.
The values and goals you share depend on who you’re talking to, and are different for each group or person; one size won’t fit all.
Next, use this formula before digging into the data
Try using these five points in any order to introduce or reintroduce or your public health work to someone—no matter how many times you’ve already met:
Value + People + Goal + Problem + Solution
To describe the role and value of public health:
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There's nothing public health can't positively impact. Public health workers partner with their communities to overcome all types of barriers people face to living their healthiest lives.
(Share a few one/two-word examples that your listener understands, like clean drinking water, smoke-free restaurants, or healthy babies.)
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To describe the people who improve Minnesota's public health:
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We're a community of experts and leaders. Public health workers, elected officials, and community members are proud of the work they do to keep Minnesotans healthy. |
To emphasize the shared goal we're all working toward:
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We want to help all Minnesotans live their healthiest lives. Everyone in Minnesota should have the opportunity to be healthy, no matter who they are or where they live. |
To show what's keeping us from doing our best work, and the consequences it has on Minnesotans:
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Minnesota's approaches are out of date. Minnesota’s approach to public health was designed more than 50 years ago and doesn’t meet today’s funding and resource challenges.
(Is there another problem you’d like your listener to help you solve? Substitute it here.)
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To explain how an updated approach will help both you and your listener meet your shared goals and/or honor your shared values:
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We need to invest in a new approach. It’s time to invest in a new approach that embraces fair funding and creative collaboration to meet today’s complex needs.
(Is there a different solution you’re proposing to solve the problem you just noted? Substitute it here.)
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Finally, bring your work to life with stories and data
After you introduce your issue or work, then tell stories that bring your message to life, and share data or proof points that support your message.
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Stories/examples help your audience feel like they’re “in the river” too, creating a thriving community with you, and will often stick with audiences long after they forget data points. “I could tell you about the river, or we could just get in.” – Bill Callahan, singer-songwriter
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Data can help show the return on investment of public health work, or make public health's reach clear and show the value of cooperation.
Learn more
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Use Minnesota's framing toolkit: For research-based, values-driven communications tips and tricks developed specifically for Minnesota, visit: Message Toolkit: Inspiring Partners to Strengthen Public Health in Minnesota.
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Schedule a workshop: To schedule a workshop for your health department or division on how to use this toolkit and framework, contact the MDH Center for Public Health Practice: health.ophp@state.mn.us. At this time, workshops are open to local and Tribal health departments in Minnesota and to MDH staff.
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Keep reading: You can find more resources for yourself and your communications staff at the end of this newsletter, to help build clear, consistent communications no matter where you are.
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Earlier this year, the Joint Leadership Team for Public Health System Transformation released a report describing how Minnesota’s public health leaders, elected officials, and community members work together to help our communities thrive by:
- doing the foundational work of public health in innovative and collaborative ways,
- partnering across sectors and geographies, and
- working together to meet today’s health needs while anticipating tomorrow’s.
Members of the Joint Leadership Team presented this report to the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee in January 2025 and to the State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC) in February 2025.
Borrow some talking points
Joint Leadership Team members used a research-based, values-driven messaging frame to talk about the goals we share across Minnesota, the people doing the important work of public health, the value that public health brings to communities, the problem facing Minnesota in an aging and stressed public health system, and the solution we’re reaching toward together: a seamless, responsive, publicly-supported public health system that serves all Minnesotans.
Dig into the report
Read the full report (PDF) or an executive summary (PDF) online, and let us know what you think.
Where does this report resonate with your work, and how do you see today’s public health landscape changing while your jurisdiction adapts? Let us know!
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Toolkit | Joint Leadership Team for System Transformation in Minnesota and Hattaway Communications
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This message toolkit was developed specifically for Minnesota’s public health leaders, program staff, and allies in 2024, based on interviews with public health staff, elected officials, and community organizations.
It includes research-based steps to help you build communications so people can understand your work in public health and why Minnesota’s public health system needs a new approach.
Over 600 of your colleagues in Minnesota have used this toolkit in workshops to develop communications about their work, grounded in shared vision and goals.
Schedule a free workshop for your health department or division by contacting the MDH Center for Public Health Practice: health.ophp@state.mn.us. At this time, workshops are open to local and Tribal health departments in Minnesota and to MDH staff.
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Toolkit | de Beaumont Foundation
Leaders, directors, and administrators, this toolkit is for you. It includes scenarios you might encounter in your professional life, when people don’t understand what public health is or does, and easy to remember, research-tested messaging to fill those gaps.
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Webinar (1 hour) | FrameWorks Institute and Society for Health Communication
Unsure how to counter misinformation you hear about what public health does or doesn’t do? Recent manufactured controversies in public and population health include vaccine safety, DEI, transgender health, and more. How can public health communicators be equipped to diagnose and respond more efficiently and effectively to disinformation, misinformation, and manufactured controversies? This session moves from theory to practice, outlining a conceptual framework for understanding the stages of moral panics and illustrating strategies and tactics for interrupting them. |
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Resource
If you have communications staff, send them over to the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC). There, they’ll find timely, relevant, and practical tools, messaging, and training to support and enhance their skill and capacity with webinars, downloadable tools and guides, and more. |
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What is the Joint Leadership Team?
Three sectors in Minnesota work together to guide the work of transforming Minnesota's public health system, determining what it looks like when a system is equitable and has adequate resources.
This Joint Leadership Team consists of people from: SCHSAC (State Community Health Services Advisory Committee), LPHA (Local Public Health Association of Minnesota), and MDH (Minnesota Department of Health).
Learn more: Joint Leadership Team.
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Contact a specific member of the Joint Leadership Team
Based on the collaborative nature of this work, please direct any questions or feedback to one of the following.
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Local public health staff and leadership: Please contact your LPHA representatives currently serving on the joint leadership team.
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MDH staff and leadership: Please contact the MDH staff currently serving on the joint leadership team.
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SCHSAC members and alternates: Please contact the SCHSAC representatives currently serving on the joint leadership team.
General questions
For general questions, including about funding, grants, and eligible activities: Please contact the MDH Center for Public Health Practice at health.ophp@state.mn.us.
Not sure who to contact?
Visit Ask a Question: Transforming the Public Health System in Minnesota. Joint Leadership Team members review these questions on a regular basis and respond as needed or requested.
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