Transforming the Public Health System in Minnesota

What's new?

• Dec. 2025: Definitions, Criteria, and Standards for Foundational Public Health Responsibilities: Local and state public health agencies can use these definitions and criteria to prioritize and align foundational work across programs, topics, and jurisdictions.
• Dec. 2025: Standards for Fulfillment of Foundational Public Health Responsibilities: Recommendations of the SCHSAC FPHR Workgroup (PDF): Learn about definitions, standards, and criteria to demonstrate fulfillment of foundational public health responsibilities, as recommended by the SCHSAC FPHR Workgroup, as well as considerations for a process to demonstrate fulfillment.
• Nov. 2025: Foundational Public Health Responsibilities Grant: 2024 Annual Report (PDF): Read about local activities, successes, opportunities, challenges, and emerging trends in growing capacity for foundational public health responsibilities.
• Sept. 2025: Roadmap Toward a Seamless, Responsive, Publicly-Supported Public Health System: Everyone can use this roadmap to align their efforts toward a transformed system. Learn about ongoing actions, roles organizations can play, ways to adapt to change, and key milestones and strategies guiding the path forward.

Sustained investment

Sustained, ongoing, flexible, and equitably distributed investments in the public health system can help Minnesota's public health departments be strategic and effective in helping Minnesotans be their healthiest.

• FPHR Grant: Local, ongoing funding for foundational public health responsibilities
• Minnesota Infrastructure Fund: Local innovation projects, big transformation

Modern practice

Equipping and positioning the public health system to address upstream determinants of health and fulfill foundational public health responsibilities statewide can help Minnesotans be their healthiest from the ground up.

• Framework of Foundational Responsibilities: Five topic areas and eight cross-cutting capabilities, encircled by equity
• Definitions, Criteria, and Standards: Learn what's foundational, and standards to indicate fulfillment of foundational responsibilities
• Regional Data Models: Working regionally to collect, use, and share local population health data
• Tribal Public Health Capacity and Infrastructure: Working together to measure capacity and build infrastructure
• Minnesota Infrastructure Fund: Local innovation projects, big transformation
• Message Toolkit: Talk about public health using everyday words and messages that stick

Modern tools

Adopting modern tools and technology can help Minnesota's public health system meet modern needs and expectations.

• Message Toolkit: Talk about public health using everyday words and messages that stick
• Data Modernization: Sharing information, data, and capacity for data-driven decisions

Shared leadership

State, local, and Tribal public health leaders and their elected governing boards must work together to lead these changes.

• Joint Leadership Team for Public Health System Transformation: Learn about the group that stewards this work
• Roadmap: The Joint Leadership Team, local public health, SCHSAC, and MDH work together to drive this work
• Governance Groups and Communities of Practice: Learn about the groups helping strategize and plan this work
• Tribal Public Health Capacity and Infrastructure: Working together to measure capacity and build infrastructure

About this work

• About Minnesota's Work to Transform Public Health
• Roadmap Toward a Seamless, Responsive, Publicly-Supported Public Health System
• Reports and Resources
• Newsletter: Public Health System Transformation Update

Related work, activities, and partners

• SCHSAC: State Community Health Services Advisory Committee
• LPH Act annual reporting: Data on public health system performance, staffing, and expenditures
• MDH Office of American Indian Health
• Minnesota Health Equity Networks
• Minnesota's public health system: History and context
• CDC Federal Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) in Minnesota
• PHAB: 21st Century Learning Community