Evaluation of the Baltimore Health Corps Pilot: An Economic and Public Health Response to the Coronavirus

The Bal­ti­more Health Corps was a city-run pilot launched in June 2020 and concluding in December, 2021. The pilot simul­ta­ne­ous­ly addressed two issues: the spread of COVID-19 and the result­ing employ­ment cri­sis faced by Bal­ti­more res­i­dents.The Bal­ti­more City Health Depart­ment and the Mayor's Office of Employ­ment Devel­op­ment led the Bal­ti­more Health Corps, draw­ing on their expe­ri­ences with equi­table recruit­ment and hir­ing prac­tices, work­force-sup­port­ing activ­i­ties and pub­lic health work­er train­ing. Togeth­er, they led a team of pub­lic and pri­vate part­ners that includ­ed the Bal­ti­more Civic Fund, Bal­ti­more Corps, Health­Care Access Mary­land (HCAM), Jhpiego and the Mayor's Office of Per­for­mance and Inno­va­tion.The ini­tia­tive tracked those who con­tract­ed the virus at the height of the pan­dem­ic and con­nect­ed COVID-19-pos­i­tive indi­vid­u­als with test­ing, resources and oth­er assis­tance. In doing so, the Bal­ti­more Health Corps also placed unem­ployed work­ers on a path to high-qual­i­ty, last­ing careers via tem­po­rary posi­tions as com­mu­ni­ty health work­ers with the Bal­ti­more City Health Depart­ment and Health­Care Access Mary­land (HCAM). The pro­gram hired from a pool of Bal­ti­more res­i­dents who reflect­ed the city's racial and eth­nic demo­graph­ics and were unem­ployed, under­em­ployed or fur­loughed because of the pandemic. By Sep­tem­ber 2021, 336 health work­ers had received train­ing and took on roles with­in either the Health Corps' con­tact trac­ing and out­reach pro­gram or the care coor­di­na­tion and access program.While these health work­er posi­tions were intend­ed to last just eight months, as the pan­dem­ic per­sist­ed, the jobs were extend­ed thanks to fund­ing from the Amer­i­can Res­cue Plan Act. As of May 2022, 126 Bal­ti­more Health Corps work­ers remain employed with either the health depart­ment or HCAM, while 119 for­mer staff mem­bers have since moved on to oth­er employ­ment opportunities.This is the Final Report to follow the Early Lessons Report for the Baltimore Health Corps Pilot Study. Readers are encouraged to review the Early Lessons Report for a detailed description of the formation of the Pilot Study, the role of each partner, as well as findings from the first year of the Pilot Study