CDC Funding for Local and Tribal Health Department COVID-19 Prevention and Response
This bulletin is being sent to local health officers, tribal health directors, and key DPH staff.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is pleased to announce an award of $40 million in supplemental funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Enhancing Detection cooperative agreement. Base awards of $250,000 will be given to all local and tribal health departments (LTHDs), with the remaining amount allocated using a funding formula. More details on specific allocation per LTHD will be available in the near future.
These funds will be available until November 15, 2022, and can be used to reimburse LTHDs for salary, fringe, and other expenses associated with their COVID-19 prevention and response efforts, including supplies and equipment. Although LTHDs can also use these funds to meet other objectives laid out in the ELC Enhancing Detection guidance (e.g., testing, epidemiologic surveillance, contact tracing), DHS encourages LTHDs to prioritize the use of this funding to increase their workforce and enhance our state’s capacity to respond to COVID-19.
Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Corps
In an effort to address the need for increased public health response capacity across the state, DHS is also excited to announce the creation of the Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Corps, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UW PHI). The Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Corps is a 20-24 month service and training program designed for a range of public health professionals and allied fields to provide direct response to this unprecedented global pandemic. Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Corps members (RCM) will be recruited and trained by the UW PHI, and placed at LTHDs around Wisconsin who are interested in hosting one or more RCMs. RCMs will receive on the job training throughout their tenure. The cost of hosting an RCM will be deducted from the participating LTHD’s CDC ELC Enhancing Detection funding allocation.
RCMs learn and grow as professionals through their direct response work, a continuing education curriculum embedded in the program, mentoring, and explicit training in equity and emergency response. RCMs leave the program with training to consider a health equity lens alongside the development of tangible skills in public health programming and management. This emergency response program strengthens Wisconsin’s public health workforce through the service provided by RCMs and the health equity and systems thinking lens that they bring to their placement site and community. As the needs of communities around the state vary, the UW PHI program and DHS will work closely with LTHDs to match RCMs with the skills and expertise needed in each community.
Wisconsin RCMs provide service by bringing valuable skills and capacity to placement sites, which fill critical human resource and innovation gaps in LTHDs affected by budget constraints and staffing shortages during our current crisis. During their tenure, RCMs make substantial contributions to agency capacity building and to public health efforts to control, contain, and mitigate COVID-19 in communities across the state, with particular attention paid to vulnerable communities. In addition to the expertise and capacity added by the RCMs, the systematic training, support, and mentorship allows them to be a part of a community of practice of folks responding to public health emergencies across the state and country.
If you have questions, please contact us at DHSDPHELC@wi.gov.
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