ORAU was awarded a contract to provide tailored training and technical assistance in public health communication to rural and frontier health department awardees for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). This work aims to build the workforce capacity of local health departments related to their COVID-19 contact tracing and testing and vaccine administration efforts.
The project team, led by Kara Stephens, ORAU project manager – health communication specialist, includes Amparo Atencio, Diane Krause, and other public health and healthcare communication, marketing and training professionals, with specialized expertise in public health and healthcare preparedness and response. The team has demonstrated experience in providing expert capacity-building technical assistance that is 1) centered in racial equity; 2) delivered to local health departments and relevant community-level multi-sectoral partnerships/coalitions; 3) relevant to emergency response planning efforts; and 4) designed and delivered in coordination with NACCHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other technical assistance providers.
“ORAU’s proven past performance, qualifications, and our total solution, including our own health communication and marketing specialists with specialized expertise in preparedness and response, were instrumental in winning this work,” said Kara Stephens. “We are honored to have been selected for this work and look forward to our continued support to NACCHO and our nation’s health departments.”