An Equity-Focused Approach
Due to longstanding systemic inequities, communities of color are at greater risk of infection and death from COVID-19. These communities also have less access to COVID-19 vaccines and have been more negatively impacted by the economic fallout of the pandemic than white Americans.
Tracing Health is able to provide trusted COVID-19 response service while mitigating the inequitable impact of the pandemic in three important ways:
- Community Focused Recruitment
- Culturally Centered & Primary Language Services
- Comprehensive Training & Workforce Development
This three-pronged approach acts as a continuum that serves our team members and their communities through the current pandemic emergency and into the future.
Community Focused Recruitment
Tracing Health helps advance health equity by creating good jobs with benefits in communities most affected by the pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn. In hiring, we prioritize language and communication skills and lived experience over formal education, acknowledging that the most important qualifications in this work are the ability to engender trust and communicate in a way that works for the people we serve.
Culturally Centered & Primary Language Contact Tracing Services
Language access and cultural responsiveness is a key element of Tracing Health’s services. By prioritizing hiring from communities most impacted by COVID-19, Tracing Health has built a team of public health professionals who are majority bilingual, racially and ethnically diverse, and/or have lived experience as a member of a community that experiences health inequity.
Comprehensive Training & Workforce Development
We want to see the public health system expanded and diversified and our staff are committed to being a part of that change. Our workforce development approach is designed to launch Tracing Health staff into permanent public health careers. While responding to COVID-19, we are also building the diverse, qualified public health workforce America needs.
25K Hours
Tracing Health provided more than 25,000 hours of training to our staff — including staff who have not yet completed their high school degrees — to start them on their paths as public health leaders.
90 Employees
90 Tracing Health employees have been rewarded with internal promotions supervisor, manager or coordinator positions (as of June 1, 2021)
230 Certifications
230 professional certifications earned by Tracing Health team members on online platforms such as Coursera.
Our Team In Action
Click a video for firsthand experiences from our Tracing Health heroes.
“Since PHI staff were well-trained prior to deployment, onboarding staff into larger operations was streamlined. We are impressed with the level of professionalism, knowledge, and flexibility from the staff.”
County Partner, San Bernardino County Health Department, CA
“The Public Health Institute is doing a lot to help us develop professionally with all their workforce development efforts. I can see how really enriching my resumé will help me keep a job in public health in the future. So it gives me that sense of like security… job security that I might not have right now as a contact tracer.”
Paulina Jafarzadeh, Contact Tracer PNW
“I am so appreciative of all of the support you and the PHI team have provided to our county… Our partnership has been a truly wonderful collaboration! Thanks again!”
County Partner, Sonoma County Public Health Department, CA
“I supervise Alejandra (TH team member), I wanted to share that she has been an amazing addition to our team and we so appreciate her work ethic and dedication to our community… She has become an integral and critical part of our team and hope she can continue for the duration of our program.”
Social Services Unit Supervisor, Marin County, CA