CAPDIE Careers.

Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, & Evaluation

Community health is everywhere – cities, towns, suburbs, rural areas and reservations. The skills you gain with the CAPDIE certificate equip you to work in all types of communities. The work of community health is just as vast – it is done in nonprofits, local governments, health departments, state and national governments, schools, insurance companies, consulting firms…even the life science industry! We encourage you to be open minded when you begin to think about what your career in community health might look like. Use your time in graduate school to explore some of the possibilities.

When thinking about a career in community health, there are several key things to keep in mind:

  • What community do you want to work with? It could be a geographic community like your hometown or an age-defined community such as adolescents or the elderly. It could be all people who have Blue Cross for their health insurer. It could be people who take a certain medication. It could be the Vietnamese community in Dorchester.
  • What type of setting do you want to work in? Do you want to be close to the community like a school vs. several layers removed like the federal government? How about a corporate environment where the work is heavily structured and fast paced vs. a small nonprofit where every day is different? Might you prefer a well-resourced setting like a private university or a grassroots organization working to fundraise in order to do the work with some of the hardest to reach people?
  • What type of work do you want to do? Are you interested in assessing community needs? Or developing a program evaluation plan? Do you want to do focus groups and interviews or survey design and data collection? Or both? Do you want to have time-limited projects for clients or work on a team that is in charge of overseeing programming far into the future? Do you want to meet work one on one with community members in a clinical setting or research policies for government officials?

Career Pathways

CAPDIE and MCH: Career pathways include community-based evaluation and assessment, advocacy, reproductive rights or programming with prenatal, pregnant, perinatal and lactating women as well as children and adolescent populations in health departments, government agencies, health delivery systems, schools, and research organizations in domestic and global settings.

CAPDIE and GH: Career pathways include community-based evaluation and assessment, advocacy or programming related to reproductive health, violence against women, men having sex with men, infectious diseases and other global health issues in government agencies, academia, health delivery systems, NGO’s, and public health consulting firms in a global setting. For CAPDIE students interested in global health, please visit the global health career guide pages.

CAPDIE and Chronic Diseases: Career pathways include community-based evaluation and assessment, advocacy or programming with populations at risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic & non-communicable diseases in health departments, government agencies, academia, health delivery systems, insurers, and public health consulting and research firms.

Consulting: Please visit the consulting section of our website for more information.

Common Job Titles

  • Program/Project Coordinator
  • Program Associate
  • Program Manager
  • Public Health Specialist
  • Health Equity Fellowship
  • Research Associate/Assistant
    • *Note: Most Research Assistant roles at hospitals do not require a master’s degree and thus will pay less
  • Public Health Analyst
  • Public Health Associate
  • Policy Analyst / Specialist

Where These Positions Can Be Found​

Non-profits
  • Planned Parenthood Federation of America (national)
  • Rosie’s Place (local)
  • The Greater Boston Food Bank (regional)
  • Alliance for a Healthier Generation
  • Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
  • Management Sciences for Health (Global)
  • Partners in Health (Domestic and Global)
  • Fenway Health (Domestic)
Universities & academic medical centers/hospitals
  • Cambridge Health Alliance
  • UCLA Health
  • Dimock Community Health Center
  • Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  • Universities like Harvard, BU, UC San Francisco, University of Utah, and many more
Local, state, & federal government
  • Local departments of health can be large organizations, like Boston Public Health Commission, in a big city or small for a suburb such as the Dedham Health Department
  • State government can include state health departments, state Medicaid Offices (ex. MassHealth), Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and executive offices such as the Executive Office of Health and Human Services
  • Federal government can be a ministry of health in some countries, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), USAID, Department of Justice, and more

Remember, the work of public health can be found in many parts of the government other than the specific health departments

Consulting firms

There are some consulting firms that specialize in getting federal government awards to support the work of the government and others specialize in awards from state and some local governments including:

  • The Lewin Group
  • Booz Allen
  • Public Consulting Group (PCG)
  • RTI International
  • Karna LLC
  • John Snow Inc

To learn more about a career in consulting, check out our consulting section.

Life science companies

Our community health graduates have gone to many life sciences companies. The roles they tend to take, however are not limited to, are the ones that support the patients who are taking the medications that the companies make. These roles may be under Patient Services, Patient Support, or Patient Advocacy.

  • Vertex
  • Sarepta Therapeutics
  • Takeda

One of the best ways to get into one of these roles is to speak to someone in the organization that is in the role currently, especially an alum. They often have referral plans where they can refer a candidate and get a bonus if the candidate is hired. So we recommend reaching out to an alum before you apply.

Health insurers & Health insurance foundations

Using health insurance utilization data to determine the gaps in care for populations is another way that community health graduates support the health of populations.

  • Optum
  • Point32Health
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
  • Mass General Brigham Health Plan
  • Health Share of Oregon
  • San Francisco Health Plan
  • Colorado Health Foundation

Core Competencies & Skills

Be sure to read job postings to learn more. Competencies and skills will vary by sector​.

Those interested in Community Health roles will need the ability to

  • Plan and conduct systematic community health needs assessments, integrating multiple sources of data and community and stakeholder input.
  • Design public health interventions which are supported by public health evidence and respond to priorities identified through a community needs assessment.
  • Formulate implementation and sustainability plans designed to engage community members, policy makers, practitioners, funders and researchers.
  • Design program evaluations, including formative, process and impact evaluation, and be able to articulate a plan for evaluation using a standard logic model
  • Apply strategies for equitable, collaborative partnerships with communities, based on common recognition of sources of structured social privilege and disadvantage and a shared goal of seeking to expand community assets and power to improve health outcomes.

Salary Expectations

Salaries for CAPDIE positions are based on the industry, experience level, and location. You can view the BUSPH graduate employment data here. Salary information is housed under Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, & Evaluation. For more information on salaries, visit our Salaries, Evaluating, & Negotiating Your Offer section of our website.

Resume & Cover Letter

Check out our Application Pieces page for help crafting your CAPDIE resume and cover letter.

Specific Considerations for Applications Within the Community Health Field​

If you are a member of the population you are applying to serve, it can be beneficial to note that in your application so the employer knows that in advance. Community health work values this highly.

For example, if you are applying to work with LGBTQ+ populations and you are a part of the community, it can be good to note it. Same holds true if the community you are applying to work for is, say, Black women in Washington DC. That said, it’s up to you if you feel comfortable naming a particular identity of yours in your application. There are definitely biases in the world and if you feel too vulnerable or don’t think it’s their business to know, that is absolutely okay too.

If you aren’t a member of a particular community you are applying to work with, be prepared to answer questions about that in an interview.

For example, local health departments have been known to ask candidates first about their definition of racism, followed by a question for white identified candidates applying to serve a community of color, “Tell us about your own racial identity development and how it might impact your ability to do the work in this community.”

Highlight any experience in working with communities similar to the one that the job serves, even if you did it in a different context. Maybe you worked with adolescents as a counselor at a summer camp where issues of self esteem, sexuality, gender identity, and body image were topics you counseled on informally. It will be worth mentioning even if the position is asking for experience as a prevention health educator with adolescents and young adults in a college setting. Make the connection for the employer that the skills are transferable.

Associations & Organizations

  • American Public Health Association
  • Association for Community Health Improvement
  • Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
  • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
  • Boston Public Health Commission
  • Cambridge Public Health Department
  • Catholic Health Association of the US
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
  • Kaiser Family Foundation
  • Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Community Health Improvement
  • National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
  • National Network of Public Health Institutes
  • Public Health Foundation
  • USAID

Community Assessment, Community Health & Equity Resources, Guides, & Data

  • American Public Health Association
  • Association for Community Health Improvement: Community Health Assessment Toolkit
  • Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
  • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO): Community Health Needs Assessments
  • Boston Public Health Commission: Boston Community Health Assessment
  • Cambridge Public Health Department: Community Health Assessment
  • Catholic Health Association of the US:
    • Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs
    • Social Determinants of Health – Overview and Links to Reports, Tools, National Initiatives, and Ministry Examples
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
    • The Community Guide, developed by the CDC’s Community Prevention Services Task Force
    • Community Health Improvement Navigator
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): Accountable Health Communities Model
  • Health Leads: Social Needs Assessment and Implementation Tools
  • HealthyPeople 2030: Links to Initiatives, Tools and Resources
  • Kaiser Family Foundation: Beyond Health Care: The role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity
  • MCH Job Opportunities | University of Illinois Chicago | Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health
  • National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): Healthy Community Design
  • National Network of Public Health Institutes: Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement (CHIP) Initiatives
  • New York State Department of Health: Examples of CHAs and Report Cards
  • Public Health Foundation: Links to Programs, Resources and Tools
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Focus Areas Center on Health Equity: Transforming Health and Healthcare, Better Data for Better Health, Healthy Communities, Equitable Community Development: Focus Areas
  • UNC Health Sciences Library: Community Health Assessment Basics
  • USAID: Programs and Reports