The Public Health Training Center Network (PHTCN) is a consortium of ten regional Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs). Each of the PHTCs offers convenient and flexible training that addresses critical public health issues. Together, we are building and sustaining a skilled public workforce, today and for the future. Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the regional PHTCs are located in top universities within schools/colleges of public health focused on evidence-based applied practice and workforce development. They collaborate with community-based training partners and extensive partner networks.

In 2020, the Public Health Training Center Network (PHTCN) and the University of Illinois Chicago Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center (P3RC) developed an innovative free resource called Creating a Learning Agenda for Systems Change: A Toolkit for Building an Adaptive Public Health Workforce (The LASC Toolkit 1.0). That original Toolkit was built in response to multiple workforce needs assessments that called for learning approaches to address equity, be more responsive and collaborative with the community, and drive systems change in ways that address the root causes of today’s complex challenges.

The LASC Toolkit 1.0 was piloted and evaluated in 2021; results were shared with a Steering Committee of national, state, regional, local and hyperlocal representatives. The Steering Committee provided multiple recommendations, including:

• Define, assess, and offer recommendations for teams’ readiness to work towards systems change using the LASC framework
• Clearly articulate the role of workforce development and transformative learning to address complex challenges
• Provide more detailed actionable steps to move teams from identifying root causes to implementing learning opportunities
• Expand existing tools and resources to assist the facilitation of the LASC process

Based on these findings, a team of PHTCN and P3RC members revised the original LASC Toolkit to address its gaps and strengthen its process. The LASC Toolkit 2.0 is the result of that work. It was co-created by the PHTCN and P3RC representatives with strong influence from our practice and academic partners. 

The Learning Agenda for Systems Change (LASC) is an action-oriented, evidence-informed, field-tested process for organizations, as well as their partners and communities, to use transformative learning as a driver for systems change. It facilitates iterative, collective processes to identify and address the root causes of today’s complex public health challenges, creating multi-level, multi-pronged learning approaches. The LASC Toolkit 2.0 integrates community health improvement plans, organizational strategic plans, and workforce development approaches, always centering the culture change needed for communities and systems to improve economic, social, and overall health and wellbeing.