Cultivating Leadership and Strengthening Cross-Sector Partnerships to Advance Local Change in a National Model
Highlights
In 2025, PHI’s Center for Health Leadership and Impact (CHLI) continued its work supporting local leaders in addressing the most pressing public health issues facing their communities, including disaster preparedness and response, overdose prevention and environmental health. CHLI’s adaptable and scalable model is helping to build healthier communities by accelerating local impact, amplifying effective public health strategy and strengthening the next generation of leadership.
13M Californians reached through CHLI’s California Overdose Prevention Network
1.5K participated in strategic messaging training hosted in partnership with FrameWorks Institute
320 average web forum audience on topics such as addiction science, empathy building, and trends in street medicine and outreach
Since their launch, PHI’s CHLI has led programs for individuals, teams and coalitions to advance skills and increase leaders’ capacity to transform their communities. In 2025, this work included CHLI’s continued partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health to support 42 individuals in its Lead-Free Communities Initiative, addressing lead contamination and making communities safer. CHLI also continued a close partnership with the California Department of Health Care Services to support 15 overdose prevention coalitions with learning, coaching and support that save lives. Finally, CHLI’s ongoing partnership with AmeriCorps continues to build the next generation of public health leaders and provide capacity to local health departments.
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2025 Highlights
- CHLI’s Dialogue4Health hosted 16 virtual web forums to over 9,700 attendees highlighting trending issues in public health including overdose prevention, messaging strategies that inspire action, and emergent issues such as the role of artificial intelligence in public health.
- CHLI’s Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health hosted the first-ever convening for Public Health Infrastructure Grant recipients of the U.S. Associated Pacific Islands bringing together public health leaders from America Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
- Teams across 49 states & territories engaged in CHLI’s leadership development programming have addressed disaster preparedness and response, overdose prevention, environmental health and other issues in local communities with diverse geographic and economic conditions across the United States.
- 87 participants of CHLI’s Workforce Pathways AmeriCorps Vista have gained full-time employment hired by their local host sites, health departments and/or partner organizations, helping fill long-term public health needs.
My VISTA year encouraged me to think about medicine from a public and community health perspective. That was very valuable and is ultimately why I decided to pursue a dual [medical and] MPH degree.AmeriCorps VISTA Hub Alumnus
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