The plan: To advance equity and improve healthcare workforce diversity by training people from historically marginalized and underrepresented populations.
Nurse training programs are getting $80 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand the pipeline and get more nurses into short-staffed healthcare centers.
The Nursing Expansion Grant Program also will advance equity and improve healthcare workforce diversity by training people from historically marginalized and underrepresented populations, according to the department’s press release.
The funding comes not a moment too soon, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that more than 275,000 additional nurses are needed from 2020 to 2030, and that employment opportunities for nurses will grow at 9%—faster than all other occupations from 2016 through 2026.
“The funding opportunity … will support training and other programs to help advance workforce equity while bringing more nurses into the industry,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.
These H-1B Skills Training Grants will be administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration and will address bottlenecks in training the nursing workforce while expanding and diversifying the pipeline of qualified nursing professionals through two training tracks.
The first track—the Nurse Education Professional Track—will increase the number of clinical and vocational nursing instructors and educators by training new or upskilling experienced current or former nurses, including retired nurses, into advanced postsecondary credentialing.
The second track—the Nursing Career Pathway Track—will train frontline healthcare professionals and paraprofessionals, including direct care workers, to advance along a career pathway and attain postsecondary credentials needed for middle- to high-skilled nursing occupations during the grant period of performance.
Applicants for the second track will propose strategies to improve nursing professional, clinical instructor, and educator recruitment, preparation, development, training, and retention.
Applicants must propose training program models that attract workers, unions, worker organizations and employers while building partnerships with community-based organizations and training institutions, according to the labor department.
“The funding opportunity … will support training and other programs to help advance workforce equity while bringing more nurses into the industry.”
— Marty Walsh, secretary, U.S. Department of Labor
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The grant will help fill the gap of more than 275,000 additional nurses needed from 2020 to 2030.
It also is designed to advance equity and improve healthcare workforce diversity.