Meeting the Country's Present and Future Needs with the Public Health Job Corps

In January, among a flurry of executive orders from newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden, it was exciting to see a call for developing the U.S. Public Health Job Corps. It’s good policy to make the essential work of halting the COVID-19 pandemic a public service opportunity and to link our need for public health workers to existing national service programs. While the executive order frames this initiative as directly related to ending the pandemic, there is great potential to use such a national service program to strengthen our health care infrastructure for years to come. Here are a few strategies that the Administration could use to make the Public Health Job Corps more effective at supporting our health care workforce:

1. Prioritize local hiring and living wages for positions in the Corps. Many Americans are still stuck without work or are underemployed due to the pandemic. Recruitment for the Public Health Job Corps should prioritize these folks. Furthermore, it should prioritize recruiting folks to work in their own communities, rather than constructing Corps service as a short-term stint in a less-fortunate community, which frequently happens in other national service programs. And it’s critically important to pay Corps members a living wage during their term of service, which is not currently the policy for other national service programs. If the Administration structures the Public Health Job Corps right and focuses on local recruitment, this initiative could be both an impactful public health and anti-poverty initiative.
2. Facilitate Corps members’ higher education access, both during and after their service term. AmeriCorps members get the equivalent of max Pell for each year of service to be used on federal student loan principal or to pay directly to their institution of higher education. Public Health Job Corps members should also be able to receive a Segal Education Award. And--most importantly--they should be able to use those funds while they carry out their term of service. After all, the majority of college students already combine work and school. Using the Segal Education Award while doing public health service to get a jump start on an allied health degree--instead of having to wait until after service--will be good for enrollment at colleges where Corps members study and will help Corps members seamlessly continue building skills for their service term and future careers.
3. Think beyond immediate Corps training to long-term health care careers. The Public Health Job Corps should be designed with equitable access to allied health careers--especially nursing--in mind. First, Corps members should have the opportunity to earn a basic health care credential, like a Certified Nursing Assistant or Medical Assistant, to help them carry out duties during their term of service in the Corps when appropriate. But that should only be the beginning. Once the pandemic sufficiently subsides, Corps members should have access to additional resources to pay for tuition and books/fees and receive a living-wage stipend while pursuing a practical/vocational nursing certificate or an associate degree in nursing or other allied health field after they complete their term of service.

The Biden administration can solve a lot of problems with the Public Health Job Corps, even more than those enumerated in the Executive Order and well beyond the current COVID-19 crisis. The Public Health Job Corps has long-term potential to create a clear, well-supported pathway into health care careers and give the country the strong allied health workforce we need. We just need our eyes on both the present and future to do it.

Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on what’s new in Education Policy!