Workforce Learning Bundle

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Employee well-being is essential for the effective functioning of community health centers. A healthy workforce is more productive, engaged, and compassionate in their work, and more likely to stay with their organizations.

Community health center employees face a number of challenges that can impact their well-being. High workloads, stressful work environments, and limited resources can contribute to burnout. Community health center leaders must take steps to promote employee well-being, such as creating a supportive work environment, investing in employee well-being programs, providing opportunities for professional development, and offering competitive salaries and benefits.

A supportive work environment can be created by promoting respectful communication, providing opportunities for feedback, and encouraging collaboration. Employee well-being programs can help employees manage stress, improve their physical health, and access mental health services. Professional development opportunities allow employees to grow and develop their skills, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and productivity. Finally, competitive salaries and benefits help community health centers attract and retain top talent.

Key Resources:

• HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) Health Center Workforce Well-being Initiative: This web portal provides federally-funded training and technical assistance resources, academic and implementation-based tools, and information on the Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey.
• BPHC Workforce Well-being Technical Assistance Hub: This website allows users to explore diverse TA formats, from newsletters to webinars and personalized coaching, tailored to distinct needs and requirements.

Dig deeper with these videos:

• Empowering Your Workforce: Considerations for Implementing & Responding to Staff Satisfaction Surveys Webinar (2023)

  Prioritizing employee satisfaction has become a critical factor in delivering exceptional patient care and ensuring the success of healthcare organizations. Staff satisfaction surveys have emerged as powerful tools, providing invaluable data to drive positive change, optimize policies, and enhance employee retention.

• Health Center Leadership’s Role in Team Building and Stress Management for a Resilient Workforce (2022)

  As health center teams grapple with ongoing and overlapping stressors contributing to burnout at the individual level, leaders must provide the structural support to build resilient teams and take a top-down approach to stress management, relieving the burden of action on individual staff to engage in self-care.

• Self-Care is Quality Care: Resiliency for Mental Health Providers (2021)

  Knowledge is the best defense against burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. This webinar was led by expert trainer on trauma-informed care, Matt Bennett, and goes further than other self-care and workforce well-being trainings by addressing the critical elements of health to enhance productivity and quality of work on both an individual and organizational level.

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• Creativity and Wellbeing: A Harmonious Union to Improve Health Centers' Organizational Culture of Employee Wellbeing - Session 1 (2024)

  Join the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU) STAR2; Center and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) for a two-part webinar series exploring the role creativity plays in advancing employee well-being at health centers. The inclusion of art and other creative endeavors in the workplace can serve as a respite for the ongoing mental health struggles - such as moral distress, moral injury, and compassion fatigue - that remain prevalent among health center staff. This webinar series will explore the intersection of art and healing as a key aspect of building a resilient, empowered, and engaged workforce. It will also provide firsthand accounts from various health centers that embraced creativity as a key part of their organization’s culture of wellbeing. Engage your creative spirit!

• Self-Care for the Health Center Workforce (2022)

  This publication aims to be a starting point for health center leadership and staff needing to better understand different techniques, tools, and practices for self-care and a guide to create systemic changes to support them.

• Finding Your Passion at Work (2022)

  This module will explain how to rekindle or find new passion in your work. It emphasizes the importance of being mission driven and passionate about what you do, knowing your ambitions, and adopting a positive attitude, leading to improved satisfaction and engagement in your work.

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Data, tools, and dashboards play a critical role in supporting the community health center workforce.

• Data can be used to understand the workforce's demographics, skills, and geographic distribution. It can also be used to track workforce trends, identify workforce shortages, and measure the impact of workforce programs.
• Tools can be used to analyze data, develop workforce projections, and create workforce dashboards. They can also be used to support workforce planning, recruitment, retention, and development.
• Dashboards provide a visual way to display data and trends, making it easier to identify problems and track progress over time. They can be used to communicate information to the workforce, stakeholders, and the public.

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• NTTAP Webinar Series (Activity Session) - June 6, 2023: Using the RTAT to Assess Organizational Capacity (2023)

  This session covered how to utilize the Readiness to Train Assessment Tool (RTAT) to understand organizational readiness to host health professions student training programs.

• The ACE-15 Survey Tool: Measuring “Teamness” In Your Organization (2022)

  This webinar from the STAR² Center team features a discussion of the ACE-15 Survey, a tool for assessing the critical qualities that make clinical teams effective.

• Leveraging Data to Develop Workforce Strategic Plans (2021)

  In this webinar, the STAR² Center showcases health center recruitment and retention data dashboards that were created for individual health center organizations.

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• National Health Center Training and Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (2022)

  This report summarizes the key findings of the national training and technical assistance needs assessment fielded to all health centers August-October 2021. Response rate was 36% of all health centers and close to 1500 individual staff responses.

• Brief Report: ROI Analysis of CHW Programs (2020)Despite mounting evidence of the positive impacts CHW programs can have, there is currently a lack of data relating these services to financial outcomes. One possible method to further evaluate and understand these programs’ economic impact is “Return on Investment” (ROI) analysis, which calculates the total benefit derived from each dollar invested in a program. While this type of analysis is rarely performed on CHW interventions, it has the potential to justify their value to a variety of stakeholders.

• Report: The Financial Impact of Workforce (2018)

  This report covers the costs associated with a provider vacancy at a health center beyond the dollar value and provides recommendations for steps to bolster a plan for recruitment and retention to avoid these costs in the future.

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Health Professions Education and Training (HP-ET) programs play an essential role in addressing the healthcare workforce shortage and ensuring that community health centers have access to a competent and confident qualified and well-trained workforce. These programs provide health professions students, trainees, and residents, and postgraduate residents with hands-on experience in CHCs, allowing them to develop the skills and competencies needed to provide culturally competent and high-quality primary care to underserved communities.

Real-world exposure to the challenges and rewards of working in CHCs can also inspire students to pursue careers in these settings, helping to address the persistent shortage of healthcare providers in underserved areas.

HP-ET programs offer a variety of benefits to both CHCs and the communities they serve. For CHCs, these programs can help to:

• Recruit and retain a diverse and well-trained workforce: By exposing students to the realities of working in CHCs, HP-ET programs can help to attract individuals within their own communities who represent the diversity of the community and retain a workforce that is committed to serving underserved communities.
• Improve the quality of care: Students who participate in HP-ET programs gain valuable experience working with underserved populations and develop the skills needed to provide culturally competent care.
• Strengthen ties between CHCs and academic institutions: HP-ET programs can help to foster collaboration between CHCs and academic institutions, leading to improved training and research opportunities for both students and faculty.

For communities, HP-ET programs can help to:

• Increase access to primary care: By increasing the number of healthcare providers working in CHCs, HP-ET programs can help to improve access to primary care for underserved communities.
• Reduce health disparities: By providing culturally competent care, healthcare providers who have participated in HP-ET programs can help to reduce health disparities in underserved communities.
• Improve overall community health: By improving access to quality primary care, HP-ET programs can help to improve the overall health of underserved communities.

Dig deeper with these videos:

• Growing the Next Generation of Health Center Executives (2023)

  This two-part series was designed to assist health centers with specific consultation on top issues in developing and implementing an Administrative Fellows Program in a Health Center setting.

• Implement Behavioral Health Training Programs to Address a Crucial National Shortage in Community Health Care Settings (2023)

  Health centers are uniquely positioned to address the unprecedented need for behavioral health services but are challenged by the workforce shortage. Participants will gain the knowledge needed to begin conceptualization of a training pathway.

• NTTAP Webinar: Postgraduate NP/PA Residency: Discussing your Key Program Staff and Responsibilities (2022)

  In this webinar, faculty discussed the drivers, benefits, and processes of implementing a postgraduate residency training program at your health center. This session also dove into a discussion on the responsibilities of key program staff, preceptors, mentors, and faculty for successful implementation.

• The Growing Provider Shortage: Building the Case for Developing an HP-ET Program (2023)

  This publication was designed to highlight projected workforce needs based on National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Vacancy Data and provides an overview of options available to develop or sustain HP-ET programs to meet these needs.

• Partnering with Academic Institutions to Develop Service Learning Programs (2023)

  This publication describes the benefits of partnerships between academic institutions and community health centers, includes strategies, recommendations, and promising practices.

• Health Professions Student Training Webinar: Assessing Organizational Capacity

  This webinar discussed how to assess organizational capacity and infrastructure to effectively host health professions students, including best practices and tools to support this strategic workforce planning.

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• The Growing Provider Shortage: Building the Case for Developing an HP-ET Program (2023)

  This document is designed to highlight projected workforce needs based on National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Vacancy Data and provides an overview of options available to develop or sustain HP-ET programs to meet these needs.

• Partnering with Academic Institutions to Develop Service Learning Porgrams (2023)

  This publication updates NNOHA's previous white paper on academic partnerships. Partnerships between academic institutions and community health centers can be a useful strategy to enhance the recruitment and retention of oral health professionals. This publication includes strategies, recommendations, and promising practices from community health centers across the country.

• Becoming a Teaching Health Center: Tips for Health Center Boards (2023)

  This resource offers tips for boards when a health center is considering starting the process to become a Teaching Health Center. It offers a case example of how one board used these strategies.

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Retention strategies are also essential for CHCs to build a stable workforce that can provide continuity of care to patients.

Here are some key strategies for retaining a strong CHC workforce:

• Offer competitive compensation and benefits: Providing competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits packages, and opportunities for professional development can help attract and retain qualified healthcare professionals.
• Foster a positive and supportive work environment: Creating a positive work culture that values employee well-being, encourages open communication, and recognizes employee contributions can significantly enhance job satisfaction and retention rates.
• Provide opportunities for professional growth and development: Offering training programs, mentorship opportunities, and support for continuing education can help employees feel valued and invested in their professional growth, leading to increased engagement and retention.
• Implement a system of performance recognition and rewards: Regularly acknowledging and rewarding employee contributions, achievements, and milestones can boost morale, motivation, and commitment to the organization.
• Promote work-life balance and employee well-being: Implementing initiatives that promote employee well-being, such as flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, and stress management resources, can help reduce burnout and contribute to employee satisfaction.
• Encourage employee involvement in decision-making: Creating opportunities for employees to participate in decision-making processes can foster a sense of ownership and engagement, leading to increased loyalty and retention.
• Seek feedback and address employee concerns: Regularly soliciting feedback from employees through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one meetings can help identify and address underlying concerns that may contribute to turnover.

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• Retention & Recruitment of Specific Populations Webinar Series – Session 1 (2022)

  This first session in the two-part series focused on the retention and recruitment of specific workforce populations that highlight experts from the field to help give viewers the tools to start the work or continue in the process of building a more inclusionary and welcoming organization.

• Retention & Recruitment of Specific Populations Webinar Series – Session 2 (2022)

  This webinar gave viewers the tools to start the work or continue in the process of building a more inclusionary and welcoming organization.

• Empowering Your Workforce: Considerations for Implementing & Responding to Staff Satisfaction Surveys Webinar (2023)

  Prioritizing employee satisfaction has become a critical factor in delivering exceptional patient care and ensuring the success of healthcare organizations. Staff satisfaction surveys have emerged as powerful tools, providing invaluable data to drive positive change, optimize policies, and enhance employee retention. However, many organizations are seeking guidance on how to effectively initiate or improve their staff satisfaction survey processes.

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• A Toolkit to Promote Nurse Resiliency and Retention (2023)

  In response to the significant nursing retention issues healthcare was attempting to mitigate, the PA Action Coalition pulled together a special interest task force. The goal of the Nursing Stress, Resiliency, and Retention Task Force was to compile best practices, identified in literature and by practice, to address the significant challenges the nursing workforce faces.

• Organizational Leadership and Resiliency Toolkit (2022)

  This toolkit will connect organization leaders with the understanding and strategies they need to support the health and wellbeing of their workforce and address some of the structural problems plaguing the healthcare industry even before the pandemic.

• Perspectives from the Field: Retaining Medical Assistants and Dental Assistants (2022)

  The findings from a series of focus groups have been compiled to highlight factors contributing to this attrition and strategies shared by participants to mitigate these factors and retain MAs and DAs in the workforce.

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Recruitment strategies are essential for CHCs to build a strong workforce that can meet the needs of their patients.

Here are some key strategies for recruiting a strong CHC workforce:

• Develop a comprehensive recruitment plan: A well-defined recruitment plan should outline the organization's staffing needs, target demographics, and the channels through which recruitment efforts will be focused. This plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure it remains aligned with the organization's current and future needs.
• Promote a positive work environment: CHCs can attract and retain talent by creating a positive and supportive work environment that values employee well-being, provides opportunities for professional development, and offers competitive compensation and benefits.
• Cultivate relationships with community organizations and educational institutions: Partnering with local community organizations, colleges, and universities can provide CHCs with access to a diverse pool of potential candidates and help them establish a strong presence within the community they serve.
• Utilize technology to enhance recruitment efforts: Online job postings, social media platforms, and professional networking sites can effectively reach a wider range of candidates and streamline the recruitment process.
• Offer targeted incentives and scholarships: Providing financial incentives, such as tuition reimbursement or sign-on bonuses, can attract qualified candidates and encourage them to pursue careers in CHCs.
• Engage current staff in the recruitment process: Encourage current staff members to refer potential candidates and participate in recruitment events. Their firsthand experience and insights can be valuable in attracting and retaining talent.
• Highlight the unique mission and impact of CHCs: Emphasize the importance of CHCs in addressing health disparities and improving the lives of underserved communities. This can inspire potential candidates to pursue careers that are both meaningful and impactful.

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• Empowering Comprehensive Care: Recruiting & Retaining the Integrated Care Team - Session 1 (2023)

  This first part of a two-part webinar discussed how health centers play a vital role in offering holistic care to patients, including and beyond medical treatment, to encompass a diverse range of services.

• Empowering Comprehensive Care: Recruiting & Retaining the Integrated Care Team - Session 2 (2023)

  This second part of a two-part webinar discussed how health centers play a vital role in offering holistic care to patients, including and beyond medical treatment, to encompass a diverse range of services.

• Advancing Health Center Retention & Recruitment through HP-ET – Salud Family Health (2022)

  This final installment of a three-webinar series on building HP-ET programs at health centers discussed the challenges, solutions, and benefits of building an HP-ET program at your health center.

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• Working with Minority-Serving Institutions to Enhance and Diversify Recruitment Pathways (2023)

  This paper serves as a quick resource and reference guide for human resources (HR) professionals and health center leaders to understand how to identify and partner with minority-serving educational institutions.

• NNOHA Community Health Center Workforce Survey: Analysis of 2021 Results (2022)

  This publication summarizes the findings of the NNOHA 2021 Workforce Survey. The purpose of the survey was to provide information and analysis on dental team member salaries, satisfaction, and recruitment and retention strategies in health centers throughout the country.

• Community Health Worker/Peer Workforce: Recruiting and Hiring for Social Determinants of Health Screening: Best Practices Guide and Findings from the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021)

  Health centers emphasizing lived experience in their hiring and responsibilities for CHW and Peer positions can achieve multiple benefits of maximizing meaningful engagement with target populations and empower the voices of people with lived experience in the health center environment, while supporting employment and economic opportunity in often hard to employ communities.

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Leadership skills are indispensable for the success of community health centers, which play a critical role in delivering high-quality, accessible, and affordable healthcare to underserved communities. CHC leaders must possess a unique set of leadership competencies to navigate the intricate challenges and opportunities inherent in this healthcare setting.

Key leadership competencies for CHC leaders include:

• Strategic thinking and planning: The ability to formulate and implement a clear vision and strategic plan for the organization, ensuring alignment with community needs and healthcare priorities.
• Communication and collaboration: Effective communication and collaboration skills are essential for fostering strong relationships with staff, patients, community partners, and stakeholders to create a supportive and collaborative work environment.
• Cultural competence: The ability to comprehend and respect the diverse cultural backgrounds of patients, staff, and community members to provide culturally sensitive care and address health disparities.
• Advocacy and community engagement: Strong advocacy skills are necessary to secure funding, resources, and support from policymakers and stakeholders, while active community engagement ensures that the organization remains responsive to the evolving needs of the community.
• Change management: The ability to effectively manage change within the organization, fostering a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement while addressing any resistance or concerns.
• Problem-solving and decision-making: Effective problem-solving and decision-making skills are crucial for navigating the challenges of resource constraints, staffing shortages, and complex healthcare issues.
• Team leadership and mentoring: The ability to motivate, mentor, and empower staff members to achieve their full potential and contribute to the organization's success.
• Financial management: Understanding of financial principles and the ability to manage the organization's finances responsibly to ensure sustainability and growth.

Dig deeper with these videos:

• Growing the Next Generation of Health Center Executives (2023)

  This two-part series was designed to assist health centers with specific consultation on top issues in developing and implementing an Administrative Fellows Program in a Health Center setting.

• Implement Behavioral Health Training Programs to Address a Crucial National Shortage in Community Health Care Settings (2023)

  Health centers are uniquely positioned to address the unprecedented need for behavioral health services but are challenged by the workforce shortage. Participants will gain the knowledge needed to begin conceptualization of a training pathway.

• NTTAP Webinar: Postgraduate NP/PA Residency: Discussing your Key Program Staff and Responsibilities (2022)

  In this webinar, faculty discussed the drivers, benefits, and processes of implementing a postgraduate residency training program at your health center. This session also dove into a discussion on the responsibilities of key program staff, preceptors, mentors, and faculty for successful implementation.

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• Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness: Bringing Out the Best (2023)

  Discover how enhancing your emotional intelligence can foster trust, engagement, and productivity, transforming your leadership effectiveness with CCL's 4 key components of emotional intelligence. This CCL article links to others related to empathy in the workplace, leading through conflict, psychological safety at work, and improving employee engagement to name just a few.

• Create (Better) Culture: The Keys to Wellbeing and Leadership (2023)

  When employees have a sense of wellbeing, they’re more engaged, creative, and productive. Explore how CCL focuses on 6 specific components of wellbeing can fuel practices that become sustainable across the enterprise and strengthen the fabric of your entire organizational culture.

• How to Make Servant Leadership More Sustainable? Balance Self & Others (2023)

  Explore the delicate balance between prioritizing team needs and ensuring your own growth and well-being as a leader in this CCL article that explains servant leadership.

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Effective Team-based care enables a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to patient care. This collaborative model involves a group of healthcare professionals working together to provide holistic care for each patient, drawing upon their unique expertise and perspectives. This integrated approach ensures that patients receive the full spectrum of services necessary to manage their health conditions and achieve their wellness objectives. Outcomes and quality measures also improve with implementation of such models leading to improvement in patient access, provider satisfaction, chronic diseases outcomes, and disease management indicators, especially for medically underserved and vulnerable populations.

Team-based care in CHCs typically comprises of:

• Core Team: Primary Care Providers (MD, NP, PA), Nurse, Medical Assistant, and Office Staff
• Extended Health Care Team: Behavioral Health Specialist, Social Worker, Pharmacist, Dentist, Community Health Worker, Care Manager, Patient Service Associates, Early Childhood Specialist
• Extended Community Care Team: Social Support Services, School-Based Support, Health Behavior Support, Home Health Aids

The benefits of team-based care in CHCs include:

• Enhanced patient outcomes: Team-based care has demonstrated improved patient outcomes, including better control of chronic diseases, reduced hospitalizations, and increased patient satisfaction.
• More comprehensive care: Team-based care facilitates a more holistic approach to patient care, as healthcare professionals from diverse disciplines can collaborate to address all aspects of a patient's needs.
• Increased efficiency: Team-based care can enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery by minimizing duplication of services, allowing team members to work to top of their licensure, and improving care coordination.
• Enhanced communication: Team-based care promotes open communication among healthcare professionals, leading to better decision-making and improved patient care.
• Increased job satisfaction: Team-based care can contribute to increased job satisfaction for healthcare professionals, as it allows them to collaborate with colleagues and share responsibility for patient care.

Dig deeper with these videos:

• Increasing Access to Comprehensive Care (2023)

  This webinar explored the crucial role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and peer navigators within the clinical care team, exploring their impact on increasing access to comprehensive care.

• Evolving Care Team Models, Strategies to Assess Provider Satisfaction, and Addressing Burnout (2021)

  This Project ECHO Webinar was part of a three-part webinars series on provider burnout and satisfaction during the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. This session addressed the topic of emerging models of team-based care in the COVID and post-COVID environment.

• Fundamentals of Comprehensive Care (2021)

  This webinar outlined the differences between case management, care coordination, and complex care management to frame up a discussion on strategies to leverage effective models for both in-person and remote services.

• Advancing Team-Based Care: Enhancing the Role of the Medical Assistant and Nurse through Implementation of Care Management to Improve Chronic Conditions (2022)

  This webinar discussed the core concepts of team-based care and introduced elements of team-based care that builds upon these basics to support your teams in advancing their capability to provide satisfying and effective care to complex patient populations.

• Using Team-Based Care to Improve HIV Linkage to Care (2023)

  This webinar addressed the role of a multidisciplinary team to provide HIV services, specifically how to foster effective communication and collaboration, how to streamline daily healthcare workflows and processes by optimizing task allocation, and how to eliminate barriers to information sharing.

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• Nurse-Led Health Care and Health Centers (2022)

  The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) has developed a brief discussing opportunities for health centers to optimize recent increases in the nurse practitioner (NP) workforce across health centers. The brief provides a comprehensive overview of nurse-managed health centers and highlights the role of nurse-led care on improved provision of primary care.

• Best Practices for Adapting to the Remote and Hybrid Workforce in Team-Based Care (2022)

  Telehealth and remote work allow health center leadership to be creative in recruiting and retaining staff to meet their organization’s needs. These new settings also require new approaches to supporting staff engagement.

• Community Health Worker and Care Coordination (2022)

  The Midwest Network for Oral Health Integration (MNOHI) partnered with NNOHA to develop this publication which outlines best practices from community health centers that have implemented innovative care coordination strategies for medical and dental integration.

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are essential to the health center workforce. A diverse health center workforce is fundamental to achieving health equity. Studies show that patients from minority backgrounds often have better experiences and outcomes when treated by providers who share their ethnicity or cultural background. This can be due to increased trust, improved communication, and a deeper understanding of the patient's social determinants of health.

Building a more representative health center workforce requires a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, healthcare professions need to actively recruit and support students from underserved communities. Scholarship programs, mentorship initiatives, and loan forgiveness options can all help address financial barriers to entry. Secondly, health centers can cultivate a culture of cultural competency through training programs that equip staff with the skills to navigate diverse backgrounds and beliefs. By fostering a workforce that reflects the populations they serve, health centers can take a significant step towards dismantling health disparities and achieving true health equity.

Here are some specific examples of how health centers are prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in their workforce:

• Hiring and recruitment: Health centers are using a variety of strategies to recruit a more diverse workforce, such as partnering with community organizations, offering paid internships, and creating flexible work arrangements.
• Training and development: Health centers are providing training to their employees on cultural competency, implicit bias, and other DEI topics.
• Employee support: Health centers are creating employee resource groups and other support mechanisms for underrepresented groups.
• Leadership development: Health centers are developing programs to identify and promote underrepresented employees into leadership positions.

Dig deeper with these videos:

• Organizational and Human Resources Policies for an LGBTQIA+ Workforce (2021)

  This training was aimed at increasing the ability of health centers to improve recruitment, hiring and retention of LGBTQIA+ staff and providers. Participants learned about the integration of staff into professional and clinical teams, the development of affirming and inclusive HR forms, practices and policies, and the importance of an affirming work culture in the retention of an LGBTQIA+ workforce.

• Clinician Perspectives on Racism in the Healthcare Workforce (2021)

  Among the many ways that racism manifests itself in health care is through the lack of representation in our health care workforce and in patient engagement and satisfaction surveys where patients continue to report better care when they see providers who share their racial and ethnic identities. Many members of the health care industry, including those who educate future health care workers, are working hard to dismantle the racism that pervades the field.

• Building an Inclusive Organization Webinar Series (2021)

  This webinar series was designed to help health center teams develop more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforces and adopt antiracist practices.

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• Ground Work: Racial Justice and Cultural Humility Training for Health Centers

  Ground Work is a foundational, racial justice training for all health center roles. This 8-part series provides tools for health centers to work towards racial equity both in our health centers and in the world.

• Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value: Establishing Pay Equity Principles to Advance Workforce Financial Wellness (2023)

  Pay equity ensures that employees receive equal pay for work of equal value, and the modern workforce expects a timely and sincere commitment to these principles from their employers. This ACU STAR² Center white paper examines existing literature to detail organizational processes and practices that champion compensation equity and provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a pay equity audit.

• Recruiting, Training, and Retaining LGBTQ-Proficient Clinical Providers

  As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people increasingly access care at health centers, the clinical workforce needs to be prepared to meet the unique health needs of LGBTQ patients. Finding LGBTQ-proficient providers, however, can present a challenge, especially outside major metropolitan areas.In this toolkit, we provide tips and strategies for: 1)Recruiting providers who are either already proficient in LGBTQ health care, or who demonstrate an interest in, and capacity for proficiency in LGBTQ health care; 2) Developing the knowledge and skills of providers to care for LGBTQ patients through training and other professional development opportunities, and; 3)Implementing changes to workplace culture, policies, and processes in order to retain LGBTQ-proficient providers.

• TI-ROC Climate of Equity Assessment (2020)

  This tool was created to assist organizations in assessingtheir current climate to understand and improve diversity, equity and inclusionpractices. The information gathered from this assessment will aid organizationalleadership and staff in process improvement activities including modifications, and subsequent supportsthatmay need to be engaged into create safe and equitable spaces for staff