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In 2003, the Institute of Medicine called for all undergraduate college students to have access to education in public health. Several major national initiatives have been launched to achieve this goal, such as the Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative hosted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in partnership with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), and the ASPPH-led 2010 Undergraduate Public Health Learning Outcomes Model that introduces students to public health at two- and four-year colleges and universities. Here, Leider et al analyze this previously unused administrative dataset to improve the understanding of trends in public health undergraduate training during the past two decades.

Daily public health responses are threatened by the inadequate capacity of public health agencies. A 2012 Institute of Medicine report defined a package of foundational capabilities that support all programs and services within a health department. Standardizing foundational capabilities may help address the increasing disparity in health department performance nationally. During the Fall of 2013, we collected information on how much state and local health departments knew about foundational capabilities. To our knowledge, this was the first study to assess current health department infrastructure as it relates to foundational capabilities.

Discipline-specific workforce development initiatives have been a focus in recent years. This is due, in part, to competency-based training standards and funding sources that reinforce programmatic silos within state and local health departments. National leadership groups representing the specific disciplines within public health were asked to look beyond their discipline-specific priorities and collectively assess the priorities, needs, and characteristics of the governmental public health workforce. The challenges and opportunities facing the public health workforce and crosscutting priority training needs of the public health workforce as a whole were evaluated. Key informant interviews were conducted with 31 representatives from public health member organizations and federal agencies. Interviews were coded and analyzed for major themes. Next, 10 content briefs were created on the basis of priority areas within workforce development. Finally, an in-person priority setting meeting was held to identify top workforce development needs and priorities across all disciplines within public health. Representatives from 31 of 37 invited public health organizations participated, including representatives from discipline-specific member organizations, from national organizations and from federal agencies. Systems thinking, communicating persuasively, change management, information and analytics, problem solving, and working with diverse populations were the major crosscutting areas prioritized. Decades of categorical funding created a highly specialized and knowledgeable workforce that lacks many of the foundational skills now most in demand. The balance between core and specialty training should be reconsidered.

Earmarks, otherwise known as Congressionally directed spending requests, are a historically significant means of political influence over budgets. In this brief, we report on the results of a longitudinal study of federal earmarks affecting health care facilities and public health. We analyzed 10 years of earmark for health care facilities and examined the correlates of being in the top 50% of earmark recipients for each year. Having representatives or senators serving on the respective Appropriations committees were shown to have increased odds of being a top earmark recipient, as was being in jurisdictions with greater poverty. However, health-related measures of need were not significantly associated with being a top earmark recipient.

National efforts are underway to classify a minimum set of public health services that all jurisdictions throughout the United States should provide regardless of location. Such a set of basic programs would be supported by crosscutting services, known as the \"foundational capabilities\" (FCs). These FCs are assessment services, preparedness and disaster response, policy development, communications, community partnership, and organizational support activities. To ascertain familiarity with the term and concept of FCs and gather related perspectives from state and local public health practitioners. In fall 2013, we interviewed 50 leaders from state and local health departments. We asked about familiarity with the term \"foundational capabilities,\" as well as the broader concept of FCs. We attempted to triangulate the utility of the FC concept by asking respondents about priority programs and services, about perceived unique contributions made by public health, and about prevalence and funding for the FCs. Telephone-based interviews. Fifty leaders of state and local health departments. Practitioner familiarity with and perspectives on the FCs, information about current funding streams for public health, and the likelihood of creating nationwide FCs that would be recognized and accepted by all jurisdictions. Slightly more than half of the leaders interviewed said that they were familiar with the concept of FCs. In most cases, health departments had all of the capabilities to some degree, although operationalization varied. Few indicated that current funding levels were sufficient to support implementing a minimum level of FCs nationally. Respondents were not able to articulate the current or optimal levels of services for the various capabilities, nor the costs associated with them. Further research is needed to understand the role of FCs as part of the foundational public health services.

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine called for all undergraduate college students to have access to education in public health. Several major national initiatives have been launched to achieve this goal, such as the Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative hosted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in partnership with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), and the ASPPH-led 2010 Undergraduate Public Health Learning Outcomes Model that introduces students to public health at two- and four-year colleges and universities. Recognizing the need for information specifically for undergraduate degrees in public health, ASPPH then led development of the Recommended Critical Component Elements of an Undergraduate Major in Public Health. These and many similar programs were created to define and promote the core components of undergraduate and graduate majors to prepare graduates to enter the workforce and/or to seek advanced studies in public health.Accreditation of undergraduate education in public health is another significant initiative conducted by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) at the baccalaureate and graduate levels. Baccalaureate accreditation has occurred when a fully accredited school of public health offers a baccalaureate degree or when an accredited public health program that is part of a broader school or department (e.g., Department of Medicine) offers a baccalaureate degree within the broader umbrella of the accredited program. In 2013, CEPH issued criteria for the accreditation of standalone baccalaureate programs that are not affiliated with a graduate school or program of public health.