The Hawaiʻi State Department of Health will receive $14.4 million in federal funding to improve public health infrastructure throughout the state as part of the newly developed Public Health Infrastructure Grant Program.

The program, which is supported in part by the American Rescue Plan, provides awards to state, local, and territorial health departments to support investments in public health workforce, infrastructure, and data modernization.

Over the last decade, state and local public health programs have lost 20% of their workforce capacity.

The grant, which was administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the first of its kind and will provide funding that will help address underinvestment in communities that are economically or socially marginalized such as rural communities, and communities comprised of high-risk and underserved populations.

In total, the CDC will award $3.2 billion to 107 public health departments throughout the country, $3 billion of which came from the American Rescue Plan.