Health Literate Workforce Development

How does your organization cultivate a strong, diverse workforce? How does your organization maintain, support, and retain qualified team members? Explore these questions and more below.

Ways to Get Started:

• Review Focus Area #2 in the toolkit beginning on page 31. Download Advancing Organizational Health Literacy (English | Spanish | screen-reader-friendly version).
• Take the self-assessment for Focus Area #2 beginning on page 5. Download Organizational Health Literacy Assessment (English | Spanish).
• Continue exploring the resources below.

Activities and Worksheets

Explore these resources related to leadership and organizational transformation:

• Setting New Team Members Up for Success (English | Spanish)
• Supporting Staff with Professional Development (English | Spanish)

Additional Resources

On January 16, 2026, we held the webinar, The Real Source of Employee Wellness with CCDPH’s Dr. Darcie Moeller and Dr. Simon Kim along with Literacy Works’ Melanie Sampson. The webinar explored burnout as an organizational issue, its costs, and why it is critical for organizations to address proactively.

Check out the webinar and its related resources on health literate workforce development below.

Webinar

Review the presentation slides (PDF) or watch the recording below.

Team Communication Agreements slide deck

Check out this adaptable PowerPoint slide deck that you can download and adapt to focus your conversations around communication norms at your organizations.

Using Teach-Back at Work

Watch the Communications Corner short video below to learn more about using Teach-Back in everyday work conversation – or check out this quick overview (PDF).

External Resources

Inclusive and Equitable Workspaces

• American Heart Association CEO Roundtable: Driving Health Equity in the Workplace (PDF) – Report highlighting reasons and strategies for integrating a health equity lens into health institutions
• Association for Women in Science: Fighting Gender Bias  – Varied resources on how gender bias harms workplaces
• Harvard University: Project Implicit  – A series of online tests part of a Harvard study that explores implicit bias in various areas
• National Hispanic Health Foundation: Increasing Organizational Diversity: A Digital Recruitment and Retention Guide for Public Health Officials (PDF) – Varied resources on the benefits of a diverse workforce
• World Health Organization: Value Gender and Equity in the Global Health Workforce : Resources on disparities in health and care roles

Public Health + Health Literacy Professional Communities

• American Public Health Association – Leading national public health membership association
• Illinois Community Health Workers Association – Statewide membership organization for community health workers
• Illinois Public Health Association – Illinois affiliate of the American Public Health Association
• Institute for Healthcare Advancement – Health literacy focused organization that offers annual conference, health literacy listserv and other learning opportunities
• Literacy Works’ Clear Language Lab: Community of Practice – Free virtual meet-ups every other month around equitable communication across social determinants of health areas 

Workforce Development in Public Health

• de Beaumont Foundation’s National Consortium for Public Health Workforce Development – Resources on strengthening the public health field 
• Illinois Department of Public Health Community Health Worker Resources – Information on the community health field in Illinois including training, updates, and surveys
• McKinsey and Company: Building the US Public-Health Workforce of the Future – 2022 article describing key suggestions to strengthen the field