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"Establish a U.S. Public Health Jobs Corps to mobilize at least 100,000 Americans across the country with support from trusted local organizations in communities most at risk to perform culturally competent approaches to contact tracing and protecting at-risk populations."
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to create a public health jobs corps.
While his administration hasn't funded a program of at least 100,000 people, the number Biden promised, it has created a smaller job corps through AmeriCorps, the existing, federally sponsored service program.
The effort, called Public Health AmeriCorps, stems from $400 million provided under the American Rescue Plan Act, the coronavirus and economic relief bill that Biden signed within weeks of taking office.
The plan is to support up to 5,000 AmeriCorps positions over the next five years. Existing organizations were invited to apply for grants to fund these positions by Nov. 8, 2021. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a partner in the initiative.
Roughly 1,000 new public health workers could be deployed to communities as soon as May 2022, Morning Consult reported.
Karen Dahl, AmeriCorps' COVID-19 adviser, told Morning Consult that the initiative is "a complement to other professions and pipelines."
The scale of the program is smaller than what Biden initially proposed, but new, federally funded health care workers should be deployed soon through the AmeriCorps partnership. We rate this promise In the Works.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "AmeriCorps and CDC Launch Public Health AmeriCorps, Seek Proposals to Build a New Generation of Public Health Leaders," Sept. 8, 2021
Morning Consult, "With New CDC Partnership, AmeriCorps' COVID-19 Adviser Envisions a First Step in the 'Future of Public Health,'" Oct. 8, 2021