C6.02 - Oral Session: Modernizing Public Health Communications: Building Capacity for Equity and Impact

Brief Abstract Summary: Discover how equity-centered communications assessments can strengthen public health systems, build trust with communities, and inform the design of effective health communications strategies. Using a case study from Benton County Health Department in Oregon, we will share our process for a comprehensive review of communications materials and illustrate how collecting additional data from staff, partners, and diverse community members, including Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and rural populations, can identify gaps and opportunities in communications strategies. Attendees will learn practical tools to assess their own communications, define accessible and equity-centered communications, design culturally responsive and trauma-informed messaging, and develop actionable plans that enhance outreach, foster partnerships, and advance health equity.

Detailed abstract description: Modern public health is no longer just about delivering messages; it’s about building relationships, fostering trust, and empowering communities with knowledge and resources for their health and well-being. Today’s public health professionals face the challenge of communicating complex information amid low trust, widespread misinformation, and persistent health inequities. To meet these demands, agencies must modernize communications, making messages and communications tactics equity-centered, culturally responsive, and action-oriented.

Rede Group partnered with Benton County Health Department (BCHD) in Oregon to address these challenges through a comprehensive communications assessment and strategic communications planning process. We engaged staff, partners, and diverse community members, including Latinx residents, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and rural populations to understand what works, what doesn’t, and where opportunities lie. Using surveys, interviews, and focus groups, we collected insights on message reach, clarity, trust, and accessibility. We also conducted a comprehensive review of BCHD’s communications materials produced between 2019-2024 to assess their accessibility, cultural-responsiveness, and other dimensions of equitable communications.

The assessment produced two highly actionable deliverables: a strategic communications plan and a workforce development/training plan to help BCHD staff implement the strategy effectively. While most assessments stop at a strategic plan, BCHD now has the tools to not only plan communications but also build internal capacity to execute and sustain it, ensuring messages reach communities in ways that are culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and equity-centered.

This session highlights how BCHD used these findings to strengthen partnerships, improve trust, and enhance program impact. Attendees will gain practical approaches for designing communications assessments that produce both actionable strategies and workforce capacity-building tools, which can be applied in other public health settings. By the end of the session, participants will leave with replicable methods to modernize communications, engage communities equitably, and advance health equity outcomes.