Public health shouldn’t have to fight for its place, but in 2025 it often does. Political pressure, public skepticism, and post-COVID cracks in trust are shaping the landscape we work in.

We can’t control the politics or the misinformation—but we can control how we show up, how we communicate, and how we rebuild trust. Here’s what defending public health really looks like now.

Community needs assessments are so common in public health that they’re sometimes seen as routine. A requirement. A checkbox. Something we do because it’s expected.

But when we strip away the buzzwords and templates, the purpose remains deeply meaningful:

A needs assessment is an opportunity to stop assuming and start listening.

Community health needs assessments are the foundation of effective public health strategy. But too often, they rely solely on existing data sources — datasets that miss the very voices most impacted by inequities.

Here’s how to design an equity-centered, mixed-methods assessment using the five steps of the Insight to Impact Roadmap.

Five years ago, if you’d told me I’d be running my own public health consulting business, I would have laughed.

Stepping into entrepreneurship has been humbling. It forced me to realize that the version of “expertise” I carried with me wasn’t going to be enough — and, in some ways, it was even holding me back.

In my work, I see the same pattern over and over: community engagement is the backbone of effective public health, and small missteps can stall great work.

The good news: once you spot these patterns, you can turn stagnant outreach into steady, trusted participation that moves health outcomes.