What a director of community health does depends on their special organization. Most directors of community health will oversee programs, supervise staff, maintain budgets and host fundraising events. As explained below, some directors of community health may spend more time on business operations or health care administration, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Career Possibilities
Community health directors’ duties will change with their organizations’ missions. For example, some may spend more time on public promotional activities. They may be responsible for organizational promotion activities through TV ads, press releases, media advertising, website content management and social media content administration. This may edit and release periodic newsletters, or they may host in-person promotional events. Community health directors who focus on leadership may be the primary board committee liaison. This means that they will prepare meeting agendas, schedules and related presentation materials. They may be assigned special projects by the board committee related to regulatory compliance and grant obligations. Finally, some directors of community health are educators who train staff how to conduct in-home health assessments and environmental inspections. These staff may work with families to identify, reduce and eliminate potentially harmful things from their home environments.
Community Health Program Director
A community health program director may manage organizational efforts to provide community health support. Programming and initiatives may include operational planning, evaluating and monitoring. It may also involve analyzing ongoing operations to ensure that they are consistent with the organizational mission, strategic plans and grant obligations. These directors of community health may assess community needs in order to make recommendations for new public health programming activities. They may spearhead projects to establish community awareness of new or important health services. In order to do this, they will participate and promote involvement in grassroots promotional activities. Program directors must usually plan and hire staff based on departmental needs and budget limitations. They ensure that departmental hiring, promotion and termination decisions strictly conform to diversity initiatives, equal employment opportunity standards and affirmative action requirements.
Community Health Grant Directors
Community health program directors who oversee regional programs may only be responsible for grants management. This means they must develop and manage funding efforts that support of assigned community health programs. These community health directors may be responsible for researching and applying for new sources of funding and resources. They will most likely use special software programs for initiative follow-up, budget oversight, expense tracking, invoice reporting and grant renewal purposes. These community health program directors will most likely create and implement organizational fundraising plans that include funding opportunity identification, categorization and submission. These directors may generate new grant proposals, develop alternative corporate sources and oversee annual fundraising campaigns and recognition events. They will have overall responsibility of meeting grant revenue objectives, developing new budget solutions and overseeing compliance with individual grant reporting requirements.
Related Resource: What is a Community Psychologist?
A community health program director must know how to collaboratively and respectfully work with staff, supporters, volunteers, business leaders, government officials and the public. They must strive to always achieve optimal efficiency, the best outcomes and better staff morale. They must know how to interact in culturally competent manners with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Most directors of community health will have a master’s degree related to public health, health care administration or non-profit management.