YOUR ASSOCIATION
NEHA NEWS
Registration Open for the Retail Program Standards Symposium
All members of the environmental health workforce are invited to participate in our assessment survey, especially professionals in supervisory or leadership roles, and professionals responsible for internal training within their agencies. Your insights are crucial for shaping a program that enhances the capabilities of our workforce. Our 10-minute survey is a key step in designing a comprehen- sive and relevant training program. Your answers and any identify- ing information will remain confidential. Learn more and com- plete the survey at www.neha.org/eh-training-assessment. Government Aairs Updates We were busy advocating for our profession in 2023. A new blog post provides an overview of the work we completed last year through our Government Aairs program. These highlights include: • We have posted 19 active Policy Statements on issues the associa- tion deems vital to advance the profession (www.neha.org/policy). • We revised our Position Statements to reflect the concerns of our current president and board (www.neha.org/positions). • We posted 17 blogs that discuss the actions of Congress and the federal government regarding environmental health. • We held our sixth annual Hill Day on February 23, 2023. Our Board of Directors and several of our members met with 53 members of Congress from both the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as both parties who serve on the appropriations committees. • We visited 42 congressional oces in 2023 to advocate for envi- ronmental health, along with federal agency funding, climate change, indoor air, and food safety. You can read the entire blog and all the highlights from 2023 at www.neha.org/2023-year-review. A new summary of 2023 state legislation on body art is now available at www.neha.org/2023-body-art-review. A total of 60 pieces of legislation related to body art were introduced in 19 states and Puerto Rico during the 2023 legislative sessions. Of these 60 bills, 9 were enacted in California, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee. and Puerto Rico. We are also holding our annual Congressional Hill Day on March 27–28. Hill Day is our opportunity to introduce and enlighten mem- bers of the U.S. Congress, from both the House and Senate, about environmental health in their state, how environmental health impacts their constituents, and ways to improve federal environ- mental health services to state and local communities. There are currently 25 people signed up to join us in Washington, DC, for this event. Learn more about Hill Day at www.neha.org/hill-day. You can learn more about our Government Aairs program and all the resources we have available at www.neha.org/advocacy. Updated REHS/RS Credential Practice Exam We are excited to announce that our practice exam for the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS) credential has been redesigned and updated. The redesigned prac-
You can now register at no cost for the Retail Program Standards Symposium (RPSS) being held virtually on April 16–18. The theme for this year’s RPSS is, “Sustaining the Standards,” with the specific goal of providing the information and connections juris- dictions need to maintain and grow their programs. RPSS provides support and education for retail food safety jurisdictions at state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, whether just beginning with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards) or maintaining conformance with them. We are currently working on the agenda, which will include three distinct educational tracks to cater to dierent experience levels with the Retail Program Standards. The virtual event will also provide dedicated learning lab sessions from our exhibitors to demonstrate tools and services to support your food safety pro- gram’s conformance with the Standards. This 3-day symposium is presented by the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Grant Program in collabora- tion with the Conference for Food Protection and funded by FDA under award U2FFD007358. Learn more and register at www.neha.org/retail-grants-rpss. Provide Input on Our Assessment of Environmental Public Health Training Needs Numerous environmental public health agencies report dicul- ties in recruiting qualified applicants that can lead to the employ- ment of less qualified individuals requiring substantial training. To address this concern, we are collaborating with the National Network of Public Health Institutes to develop a training pro- gram for environmental public health professionals. Our goal is to address workforce shortages by preparing less experienced sta with the essential foundational skills and knowledge of environmental public health.
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Volume 86 • Number 7
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