Project Guidelines

MARPHLI combines cutting-edge public health presentations during conferences with experiential, team-based learning. Teams from our partner states complete two group projects: a public health case study, and a technical assistance project. The third MARPHLI project, a mentor/agency project, is completed individually by each Fellow.

Each MARPHLI project allows the Fellow to explore the application of the core functions and essential services of public health to rfurther informationeal world problems. The case study looks at an historical issue; the technical assistance and Mentor/Agency projects address a current public health issue. In each case, MARPHLI projects provide sponsoring agencies with the opportunity to engage teams of public health professionals to solve problems and implement solutions.

Case Studies

During the October Kick-Off Conference, each Team will be reviewing three public health case studies, each of which explores one of the core functions of public health. During the Kick-Off Conference, you will be introduced to the MARPHLI Guidelines and Protocol for Case Study Development. From the conclusion of the Kick-Off Conference until the end of February of the following year, each Team is to develop its own case study.

The case study should be based on a core function of public health and related essential services and performance standards. Demonstration of leadership practices should be included in a Teacher's Guide for Discussion at the end of the case study.

The objective of this assignment is to create, through a fictionalized real life public health problem situation, an opportunity for Fellows to incorporate the concepts introduced to them during the October Kick-Off Conference. This critical thinking and problem solving exercise is utilized by the Leadership Institute as an educational strategy to promote the integration of public health leadership ideas and concepts through practice.
Click here for the Case Study Manual

At the Six-Month Meeting, a panel discussion will be held at which Team members will summarize and present the case. A discussion will follow on the relevance of leadership as a mechanism for addressing core functions and better affecting the outcome of the problems which public health professionals address.

Technical Assistance Projects

At the April Six-Month Meeting, each Team will be involved in the selection of a project to complete during Intersession II of the Fellowship Year. This is an opportunity to choose a critical community or state public health issue that a sponsoring agency or Board has been struggling with in recent time. Through a negotiation process, each Team will select one problem to address.

This assignment is designed to facilitate the integration of materials, readings and core functions of public health through practice and application. To facilitate problem identification, each Fellow is asked to provide a problem or issue on which their home agency is involved. The Fellow will need the support from the director of their home agency to allow a MARPHLI Team of Fellows to asssist the agency in the role of an expert technical assistance team — if their problem is selected. At the Six-Month Meeting, each Team will select one of the problems brought by a Fellow in their Team. The Team will then develop a strategy and work plan for the last six months of the Institute.

Mentor/Agency Projects

By mid-January, each Fellow is to designate a Mentor/Agency Advisor from the Fellow's home agency or community. This Mentor/Agency Advisor will be invited by the Institute to serve as a Mentor to the Fellow in a community-based project. The Fellow, in collaboration with the Mentor/Agency Advisor, will select a project that will address a problem that is of current concern to the agency, board or community.

The project should incorporate one or more core functions and should highlight or provide an opportunity to utilize one or more of the leadership practices. The project should be designed to assist a local agency to address a current or future public health issue. This can be accomplished by assisting in the implementation of an existing project, designing a future project, or addressing a leadership issue within the public health system.

Over a period of six months (January-June), the Fellow will explore the problem in detail and will develop a written plan for addressing the problem. In addition, the Fellow will explore the ways that the core functions and the leadership practices that MARPHLI stresses impact on the solution to the problem selected. The Mentor/Agency Advisor at the agency should be consulted by the Fellow when exploring the issues related to the problem.