Director of Assessment, Planning and Health Equity

Date Opened 8/26/2011
Filing Deadline 9/21/2011 5:00:00 PM
Salary $3,421.60 - $4,588.00/biweekly; $7,413.47 - $9,940.67/month;
Employment Type Permanent Full-Time Employment
Location: Oakland
Introduction
THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and will last approximately one year, but may be extended.
A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Postmarks and faxes are not accepted. Failure to submit the Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification. Applications will only be accepted on-line.

Description
The Health Equity Advancement Office advances health equity through policy and systems change. The office prioritizes the use of data to inform meaningful, strategic partnership to drive systems change within public sector and to address the root causes pressing upon communities most impacted by health inequities. The Unit is a resource to ACPHD, the County as a whole, and community partners pursuing communities where all people, no matter the color of their skin, where they live, or their income, have access to the same opportunities to lead healthy, fulfilling and productive lives.

The Position:
This is a single-position classification located in the Office of the Director, Public Health Department. Under general direction, the Director of Assessment, Planning, and Health Equity plans, organizes, and administers the planning, epidemiological, community capacity building, information systems, including vital registration, and local policy development and evaluation functions of the public health department to ensure that programs and policies are accurate, effective and consistent with the goal of eliminating health inequities. This position is responsible for providing direct administrative overview in the areas of strategic planning, the development of local policy initiatives in broader determinants of health sectors (education, housing, transportation, economic development, etc.) The incumbent also acts in the absence of the Director and Deputy Director of Operations, Public Health.

The Mission:
The mission of the Alameda County Public Health Department is to work in partnership with the community to ensure the optimal health and well being of all people through a dynamic and responsive process respecting the diversity of the community and challenging us to provide for present and future generations.

Core Functions
1.Assessment: The regular collection, analysis and sharing of information about health conditions, risks and resources in a community
2.Policy Development: The development of local and state health policies using information gathered from assessment activities. Policy development incorporates information sharing, citizen participation, and involvement in policy and decision making.
3.Assurance: Focuses on maintaining the capacity of public health to respond to critical situations such as disease outbreaks and environmental hazards, as well as the delivery of health care to persons who otherwise would not have any.

The Ideal Candidate:
In addition to meeting the minimum requirements of the position the ideal will candidate will successful and able to work in the following areas:
• Research for action
-Coordinate CAPE research priorities with policy/systems change efforts, as led by ACPHD and/or community partners
-Support development of CAPE capacity for new research (i.e. econometrics, air quality modeling, etc)
-Expand access to resources to support research for health equity action within ACPHD and among institutional and community partners
• Local policy development, analysis, and advocacy
-Incorporate health equity considerations into City and County decision-making processes
-Engage in advocacy to eliminate health inequities through policy and systems change informed by local health data and community priorities. Advocacy includes:
1. Implement and periodically update local policy agenda
2. Respond to multi-sector and community-based requests for policy advocacy to ensure that various
policies, programs and plans advance health equity
3. Develop strategic communication plans and materials to advance advocacy work
-Ensure policy priorities are shaped by community
-Build the capacity of staff and partners to engage in policy work from a health equity perspective, including developing training materials, presentations, and bringing in experts in various content or skill areas for technical assistance
-Build unit technical expertise social determinant of health policies areas, including criminal justice, economics, education, housing, land use, transportation, climate change, environmental justice, and food justice
-Expand access to resources to support policy and systems change work for health equity within ACPHD and among institutional and community partners
-Build staff capacity and infrastructure within ACPHD to connect policy work to traditional public health programs
• Community collaboration
-Partner with a spectrum of stakeholders to develop and implement policies that support healthy communities.
-Promote and resource system change efforts that advance health equity work within public and community-based sectors.
-Sponsor and coordinate strategic activities and collaborations aimed at health equity
-Link public sector and community-based partners to resources necessary for advancing health equity work
-Advance best practices for public sector-community collaboration for equity throughout ACPHD and other public sector agencies
-Prioritize and organize access to resources to support community engagement for health equity within ACPHD and among public sector and community partners
-Strive to include those most negatively impacted by inequities in setting priorities and taking action to address health inequities
•Health equity communication
-Ensure communication plans support and advance overall strategies to move policy and systems change work forward
-Develop messages and media campaigns that strategically advance ACPHD’s health equity efforts, including policy and systems change
-Build public awareness and understanding of social and health equity and the roots of inequity, such as racism, classism, etc and the need for policy/systems change driven by community
-Develop training materials and presentations that educate health sector and other sectors about the social determinants of health and social and health inequities
-Use new media to tell the health equity story
-Expand access to resources to support communications for health equity within ACPHD and among institutional and community partners
-Build staff capacity to understand and implement strong communication strategy and to effectively communicate to achieve health equity
• Multi-sector relationship building
-Nurture and expand ACPHD’s relationships with non-traditional health partners
-Build relationships with policymakers and decision-makers

Minimum qualifications
Education:
Possession of a Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Public Health, Epidemiology, Public Policy, Social Welfare, Psychology, or appropriate behavioral science from an accredited school. (A Doctoral degree may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis) AND

Experience:
The equivalent of five years of progressively responsible, post-graduate, supervisory and administrative experience in program planning and evaluation, research or surveillance-related work, policy development, grant writing, budget, fiscal and personnel management. At least two years of this experience should have been in a community public health setting.

License:
Possession of a valid California Motor Vehicle Operator’s license.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.
knowledge and skills
NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the “Examples of Duties” section of this specification.

Knowledge of:
• Administrative principles, practices and techniques of County and State public health systems.
• Principles and practices of governmental budgeting, funding and grant/contract management.
• Community needs, resources and organizations related to public health care.
• Methods of effective community organization and its role in public health treatment and prevention programs.
• Principles, practices and current trends in the delivery of public health services.
• Program evaluation methodologies and management analysis.
• Clinical standards of practice and licensure requirements.

Ability to:
• Communicate orally and in writing.
• Make decisions.
• Exercise leadership.
• Plan and organize.
• Exercise management control.
• Provide budget development, analysis and monitoring.
• Analyze and problem solve.
• Demonstrate interpersonal sensitivity.
• Be flexible.
• Manage multiple and changing priorities.
• Adapt to stress.
examination components
THE EXAMINATION WILL CONSIST of the following steps:
1. A review of the candidates’ applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process.
2. A screening of applications and/or Supplemental Questionnaires to select the best qualified candidates. Those selected will move on to the final step in the examination process.
3. An oral interview weighted as 100% of the final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

Candidates must attain a qualifying rating on each portion of this examination. We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination steps.
selection plan
Tentative Selection Schedule:
•Last Day of Filing - Wednesday, September 21, 2011
•Review of Minimum Qualifications and Supplemental Questionnaire - Tuesday, October 4, 2011
•Panel Interview - Tuesday, October 18, 2011
•Department Hiring Interview - After the completion of the oral panel interviews (TBD)
benefits
conclusion
All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.
NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the bulletin for the recruitment for which you have applied.