NEHA NEWS
Applications Open for NEPHIP Intern Placement for Spring 2025
Our first published article on the topic, “Investing in Retail Food Safety: Assessing the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program’s Distribution Through an SDOH Lens,” demon- strates that RFFM Grant Program investments are being made in socially disadvantaged communities. The investments can help to build and sustain local environmental public health systems. The second article, “Decoding Training Needs: Exploring Demographic Data to Understand Retail Food Regulatory Work- force Composition and Inform Capacity Building,” reports on a 2022 national survey of retail food regulatory professionals to determine workforce training needs. The article examines demo- graphic frequencies and associations between demographic factors and job levels. The third article, “Decoding Training Needs: Using Relevance and Exposure to Identify Training Needs in the Retail Food Regu- latory Workforce,” details our approach to assessing the relevance of and exposure to retail food regulatory knowledge areas. The analysis shows areas of high priority that can be used to help plan for future training. The funding from the RFFM Grant Program helps to ensure food safety practices are aligned with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards, which can help a jurisdiction advance its retail food safety eorts. More information about the NEHA-FDA RFFM Grant Program and these articles are available at www.neha.org/retail-grants.
Applications are now open for intern placement for the 2025 spring ses- sion of our National Environmental Public Health Internship Program (NEPHIP). Participants of our paid internship program have saved pro- grams time and resources, assisted local programs in conducting envi- ronmental needs assessments, created GIS maps, conducted community engagement, created story maps and resources, and more.
Why host a student intern? • Environmental health focus: Interns are specifically studying environmental health at EHAC-accredited schools. • 400 hours: Interns are paid by us to provide 400 hours of their time to you. • Paid: Interns are supported with a healthy stipend so they can focus on their internships. • Support package: Support packages are available to host depart- ments to help oset intern-related costs. • Matched: We personally match interns and host sites to make the experience useful and meaningful for everyone. • Give back: Your sta gets to provide firsthand perspectives, con- nections, and excitement to the next generation of environmen- tal health professionals. Priority applications for the spring 2025 session are due by October 14 . Learn more at www.neha.org/nephip-health-dept. NEHA Publishes Outcomes of NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program Foodborne illness costs the U.S. economy more than $15 bil- lion each year in associated medical expenses and lost workplace productivity. As national leaders in environmental health work- force development, we have published three articles describing the outcomes of the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Grant Program designed to reduce foodborne illness in retail food settings. Through the grant program, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has invested more than $25 million in state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions nationwide since 2022 to improve their retail food safety practices and ultimately protect their com- munities from foodborne illness. “To ensure the program is meet- ing the needs of local communities, we investigated the return on investment of the program, its impact on the health of under- resourced and economically marginalized communities, and the training needs of the workforce,” said Dr. David Dyjack, NEHA chief executive ocer.
2025 InFORM Regional Meetings
The Integrated Foodborne Outbreak Response and Management (InFORM) Regional Meetings are coming to a town near you in early 2025. The InFORM Regional Meetings support eorts to prevent and control disease, disability, and death caused by food- borne, waterborne, and environmentally transmitted infections. Participants have the opportunity to: • Discuss strategic goals and exchange expertise about improving surveillance systems and practices for detecting, investigating, and controlling enteric disease outbreaks. • Learn in joint and discipline-specific sessions for environmen- tal health specialists, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, health communicators, and other federal, state, and local pub- lic health ocials involved with foodborne and enteric disease outbreak response.
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October 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
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