CHRT and Detroit Health Department collaborate on new staff fellowship program
In 2018, with support from U-M Poverty Solutions and the DMC Foundation, the Detroit Health Department worked with CHRT to develop a new fellowship program for front-line staff–one designed to build specific skills and knowledge that would positively impact public health service delivery in Detroit. Here, we delve into the details of this initiative, exploring its inception, goals, and the impact it has had on the city’s public health landscape.
The fellowship, which graduated its first cohort of fellows this week, engages DHD personnel who work in a wide variety of departments and roles such as maternal and child health, environmental health, lead poisoning prevention, child and adult immunizations, and more.
Interactive sessions led by CHRT staff, including Executive Director Marianne Udow-Phillips, are designed to build knowledge in systems thinking, data analytics, policy engagement, and communications so that new skills and practices can be applied by DHD staff in their daily work. Sessions also include guest panels and presenters, including Dr. Jack Billi, a Michigan Medicine expert on quality improvement and lean process management, and Representative Abdullah Hammoud, a vice chair of the Michigan State House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.
The interactive curriculum covers public health policy, health and human services integration, project management, program evaluation, community coalition-building, and more.
The first cohort of DHD Fellows, pictured here, completed the 14-session program earlier this week. A second, 20-person cohort of DHD staff began their fellowship in April and will graduate in October of this year.
