Career & Professional Development
Build Skills. Put them Into Practice.
Practical professional development designed for today's public health workforce.
CPHA's Public Health Skills & Credentials Program brings together learning, practice, and real-world engagement to help you strengthen skills you can use in your work and your community. Each credential pathway offers a series of connected learning experiences focused on an important area of public health practice.
Trainings are open to everyone. CPHA members who complete a credential pathway earn a digital badge they can add to their résumé, LinkedIn profile, and other professional materials—providing a visible way to demonstrate their skills and stand out to employers and professional networks.
More than A Training
A strong public health workforce needs opportunities to keep learning, build practical skills, and grow professionally. CPHA is committed to strengthening Connecticut's public health workforce by providing accessible, skills-based professional development that connects learning with practice.
Our credential pathways build on that commitment. Rather than a single, stand-alone training, each pathway brings together a series of connected learning and engagement opportunities focused on skills that matter in public health practice. Participants have multiple opportunities to learn, practice, and apply what they know.
CPHA members who complete a pathway earn a digital badge that demonstrates their professional development and can be shared on résumés, LinkedIn profiles, and other professional materials.
Learn. Practice. Apply. Get Recognized.
How Do CPHA Microcredentials Work?
CPHA microcredentials are designed to make professional development flexible, practical, and achievable. Each credential pathway brings together several related learning and engagement opportunities that you can complete over time.
1. Choose Your Pathway
Enroll in a credential pathway focused on a skill area you want to develop. Each pathway has its own series of trainings, activities, and requirements.
2. Learn & Engage
Participate in a combination of virtual and in-person learning experiences designed to build practical skills and give you opportunities to put them into action.
3. Complete the Requirements
You don't necessarily have to attend every activity. Each pathway identifies how many qualifying experiences you need to complete to earn the credential.
4. Earn & Share Your Badge
Once you've completed the pathway requirements, current CPHA members earn a digital badge that can be added to LinkedIn, résumés, portfolios, and other professional materials to showcase the skills they've developed.
Explore Our Microcredential Pathways
Build skills that support your work today—and strengthen your professional profile for what comes next. CPHA credential pathways focus on practical, transferable skills that public health professionals use across roles and settings.
Public Health Advocacy
Now Enrolling | Fall 2026–Spring 2027
Build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage effectively in the policy process. This four-part pathway moves from the foundations of public health advocacy to hands-on opportunities to practice your skills and engage with Connecticut's legislative process.
Complete at least 3 of 4 qualifying experiences to meet the participation requirements for the credential.
Public Health Communications
Coming Spring 2027
Effective communication is essential to public health practice. This pathway will focus on practical skills for communicating public health information clearly, strategically, and effectively to different audiences.
More details coming soon.
Public Health Advocacy: Skills for Policy Change
Effective advocacy takes more than understanding an issue. It takes strategy, practical skills, and opportunities to put those skills to work.
The Public Health Advocacy Credential Pathway combines training with insights from advocates working in the field and opportunities to practice advocacy skills throughout Connecticut's legislative cycle. Follow the pathway from lessons learned during the 2026 legislative session through hands-on preparation for engaging in the 2027 session.
September 16, 2026 | Learn from the Field
Legislative Wrap-Up | 90-Minute Virtual Webinar | CHES Credit Available
What does a public health policy campaign actually look like—from setting legislative priorities to navigating challenges and determining what comes next?
Hear from public health advocates about their experiences during Connecticut's 2026 legislative session. Panelists will share the issues they worked to advance, the strategies and partnerships they used, challenges they encountered, outcomes of their campaigns, and what comes next. Participants will gain practical insight into how advocates adapt their strategies and sustain policy-change efforts beyond a single legislative session.
October 2026 | Build Your Advocacy Skills
Advocacy 101 | Half-Day In-Person Training | CHES Credit Available
Build a practical foundation for participating in public health advocacy in Connecticut. Learn how the state legislative process works, where and when advocates can have an impact, and how to communicate effectively with policymakers.
Through interactive exercises, participants will begin developing essential advocacy skills such as introducing an issue, crafting an effective elevator pitch, and communicating a clear and compelling policy message.
December 2026 / January 2027 | Make Your Case
Testimony Workshop | Virtual | CHES Credit Available
One of the most direct ways Connecticut residents and organizations can participate in the legislative process is by submitting testimony on proposed legislation.
This hands-on workshop will focus on preparing effective testimony for the Connecticut General Assembly. Learn how to organize your message, use evidence strategically, connect your expertise or experience to a policy issue, and make a clear case for legislative action.
Spring 2027 | Put Your Skills Into Action
Legislative Advocacy Experience | In Person
Take what you've learned and put it to work during Connecticut's 2027 legislative session. Once the General Assembly is considering actual bills, participants will have an opportunity to engage around current public health policy issues and practice the advocacy skills developed throughout the pathway.
This culminating experience is designed to move advocacy out of the classroom and into the policymaking process—giving participants an opportunity to engage with real legislation, connect with policymakers and fellow advocates, and experience public health advocacy in action.
Earn the Public Health Advocacy Badge
Complete at least three of the four qualifying experiences to meet the participation requirements for the Public Health Advocacy microcredential. Trainings and events are open to everyone; digital badges are awarded to current CPHA members who successfully complete the pathway requirements.
Ready to build your advocacy skills?
[Enroll in the Public Health Advocacy Credential Pathway]
Enrollment lets CPHA know that you intend to pursue the credential and ensures that you receive pathway updates and individual event registration information. Enrollment does not reserve a seat at in-person events; participants will RSVP separately as registration for each event becomes available.
