The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is committed to meaningful community engagement with individuals, neighborhoods, communities, and partners. The Office of Planning, Integration, and Engagement's Community Engagement Unit develops and implements a department-wide infrastructure for inclusive partner engagement across all programmatic efforts through policy development, capacity building, and resource alignment.

The Community Engagement Unit's programs and projects include the following:

• Public Health AmeriCorps

• Community Public Health Teams (CPHT)

• Community Health Worker (CHW) Initiatives

• Sector Engagement Team (SET)

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) partnered with AmeriCorps to recruit, train, and support the development of the next generation of public health leaders.

AmeriCorps members engaged in community outreach, health education, and resource sharing in the most highly impacted communities located within Los Angeles County. Members were assigned to one of the eight Service Planning Areas (SPAs) in Los Angeles and worked to meet the unique health needs of communities within their assigned region.

To learn more visit the AmeriCorps webpage.

Community Public Health Teams (CPHT) is a Public Health project that brings together community-based organizations, health care partners, and Public Health staff. These teams work at the household level, conducting home visits to gather health needs and connect people to care. These teams also work at the community level, inviting people to participate in creating community action plans.

This is a new approach to public health and health care in LA County. Public Health is investing public health infrastructure dollars to implement this pilot project for five years, beginning August 2023. The goal is to build long-term relationships with households, empower communities to define the health priorities that matter to them, and demonstrate that this new way of engagement can support better health outcomes.

To learn more, visit the CPHT webpage.

Since the Office of Planning, Integration, and Engagement was created in 2022, the Community Engagement Unit has funded several community health worker (CHW) projects to rapidly mobilize community-based organizations and their CHWs to connect with residents in meaningful, culturally responsive ways and respond to emergent public health concerns.  

CHWs are a valuable workforce that are at the heart of our community engagement efforts. As trusted messengers that are deeply rooted in the neighborhoods they serve, CHWs play a vital role in advancing health equity by addressing the social determinants of health, sharing critical health information, and helping individuals navigate complex systems of care. Through community outreach, education, and personalized support, CHWs bridge the gap between public health systems and the communities most highly impacted by health disparities. Whether canvassing door-to-door, facilitating community events, or providing one-on-one navigation services, CHWs are essential to our mission of building healthier, more resilient communities across Los Angeles County.

To learn more, visit the CHW Initiatives webpage. 

The Sector Engagement Team (SET) sustains and builds on sector relationships developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding Public Health's ability to disseminate and retrieve information on emerging health topics across diverse sectors. SET also develops and supports internal infrastructure and systems to facilitate coordination and collaboration among Public Health programs, other County departments, and diverse community stakeholders.  
 
To learn more, visit the Sector Engagement webpage.