Shawnee Health's proposed project addresses the area’s on-going demand for dental assistants in our region. Our apprentice program helps supply the area’s depleted dental assistant workforce. Our project requests support for our 2024 dental assistant apprentice program in our dental clinics. Funding will provide support for 2 apprentice’s salaries, fringe benefits and educational costs as well as support for the Dental Assistant Preceptors who train and provide oversight to the apprentices.

Deliver statewide training to 120-140 behavioral health providers regarding mental health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ+) Coloradans that result from systemic discrimination, biases in healthcare that negatively impact their treatment, and providing culturally responsive and affirming care to LGBTQ+individuals.

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La Cocina’s integrative Latine behavioral healthcare institute and Applied Liberation Psychology practice center welcomes new bilingual (Spanish-English) faculty and a cohort of monolingual Spanish-speaking trainees to El Instituto–the only community co-designed Latine training center that delivers culturally-affirming social, emotional and neurodevelopmental healthcare in Spanish. Known for its supportive networks, El Instituto is built “by Latines, with Latines, and for Latines.”

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Coordinate wrap-around social and professional development support and stipends for young adults entering the healthcare workforce in our Clinical Health Coach, Community Health Worker and Care Management workforce development lattice. Engage primarily young adults aging out of foster care, graduating from alternative schools, and those living at or below the poverty level by connecting them with services and equity-committed healthcare organizations seeking new staff.

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The STudents Reaching Excellence Through Collaboration with Higher EDucation (STRETCHED) program is designed to help increase the number of healthcare practitioners from limited-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority groups. STRETCHED provides exposure experiences to high school students to help spawn an interest in pursuing a healthcare career.

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WorkAdvance is an evidence-based workforce development program designed to build a skilled and inclusive healthcare workforce in the Tulsa metro area. Through no-cost training, career coaching, job placement and wrap-around support, WorkAdvance equips underserved individuals for careers in healthcare that offer steady, high-paying wages with opportunities for career advancement, contributing to the long-term success of individuals and sustainability and vitality of our healthcare employers.

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Imani's Village, Inc is committed to enhancing infant and maternal health in the Black community which currently experiences the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality. Our program consists of providing free doula services to Black birthing families as evidence continues to show that getting doula support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum helps to leads to improved mental and physical outcomes.

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People of color and those historically excluded are underrepresented in cancer research fields. The American Cancer Society (ACS) Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) Internship Program offers paid research internships to undergraduate students whose racial or ethnic background is underrepresented in the scientific community. Interns engage in 10 weeks of hands-on lab experience and mentorship in clinical settings. In 2024, the University of Oklahoma will host 8 interns.

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VNA Health Care is seeking funding support for our Nursing Career Pathway Program. This program was developed during the pandemic in an effort to improve opportunities for career development, close staffing gaps, and promote diversity and equity in VNA’s nursing workforce that staff shortages have particularly impacted. This program supports 75% of the tuition expenses of under-resourced individuals seeking to progress in a nursing career at VNA serving vulnerable populations.

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Every birth story holds the weight of history. Chicago Volunteer Doulas is embarking on a transformative mission. At its core,"100 Doulas Rising" is our ambitious endeavor to educate and train 100 Doulas, making them eligible for Medicaid Reimbursement and equipping them with employable skills. By ensuring their certification in Full-Spectrum Doula training, this program champions birth equity and paves the way for a healthier future for parents and babies alike.

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The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (NMEP) was successfully launched in the fall of 2023. As Program Director, I would like to provide scholarships to all the students enrolled in the program to offset the costs of education. Each cohort has four students. In the fall of 2024, we start our second cohort, so we anticipate we will have eight students total.  

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This project will enroll 15 participants aged 17-24 from disadvantaged backgrounds in south central Iowa in a paid summer apprenticeship program to become EMTs. The 10.5-week program features state approved EMT coursework leading to national certification testing, hands-on, on-the-job training with area healthcare employers, career exploration and soft skills training. Seven area ambulance services will serve as host sites, facilitating labs, career exploration and clinicals.

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The Eastern Iowa Certified Medical Interpreter Pilot Project will reduce language barriers and increase positive healthcare outcomes for immigrant populations by building capacity for certified Marshallese and Spanish-language medical interpretation services.

A lack of local, community-centered medical interpreters limits access to healthcare. This project will train community members in interpretation and create a database of interpreters ready to work with healthcare providers in the region.

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DVIS proposes to establish a Caring Dads program, an evidence-based intervention curriculum for fathers who have perpetrated violence in their families. This will change our current counseling practices to better include fathers in order to enhance their children's safety and well-being.

CAP Tulsa is seeking support for the Home Visiting program, which offers personal visits where trained parent educators meet one-on-one with parents and children in their homes. The focus of these visits is parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being.

HopeHouse OKC supports families facing homelessness with housing, case management, and family-centered programs. The hopeKIDS program focuses on working with children and parents, offering after-school activities, parent-child classes, mentoring, group counseling, and trauma-informed training.

The UKB PACE Advocate Initiative will serve approximately 150 tribal members within the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians' 14 county tribal jurisdictional boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma, coordinating tribal and external services to directly address ACEs among UKB children and families.

The Healthy Pregnancy Program (HPP) provides education and support to low-income pregnant individuals to ensure healthy babies and reduce maternal mortality amidst an ever-increasing maternity care desert in Iowa.

IBDC is improving Black maternal and child health outcomes in Iowa through targeted integrative services, including comprehensive doula support for prenatal care, birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum health; culturally responsive parenting group support; postpartum health resource and referral.

LSI's Early Childhood Home Visitation programming provides evidenced-based and locally-designed family support/parent education designed for at-risk pregnant women and families with children ages 0-5 in order to promote positive child development outcomes and safe, healthy families.

VNAPC's home- and shelter-based Parenting Support programs strengthen high-need, high-promise children and families through a multigenerational focus on maternal and child health, prevention of abuse/neglect, child development and school readiness, parenting skills, and family self-sufficiency.

CMC will provide programming for refugee families that supports physical, social, and mental health for children and families, including prenatal classes for Afghan women, parent education classes for refugee parents and guardians, and youth programming for refugee middle and high school youth.

Our Doula Program in Rockford uses specifically trained home visitors (Doulas) who provide support to high-risk, young women before, during, and after pregnancy, in order to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect and to develop strong parent child attachments and healthy futures for families.

Funding will help prevent youth suicide and unify Illinois schools in a collective shift from stigma to support by expanding the evidence-based Hope Squad program which organizes peer-nominated support teams trained by advisors to identify and reach out to others exhibiting warning signs of suicide.

Youth Crossroads offers a workforce development program to provide introductory training in community health work and youth mental health services to high school students and young adults (ages 16-24) in Chicago's near west suburbs, which are 87% low-income and 84% 1st and 2nd generation Latina/o/x.

Shawnee Health Services (SH or Shawnee) proposes to expand our OBGYN clinic doula services to reach 200 expectant mothers, providing the education and support needed to positively affect maternal and infant health outcomes.

SIHF Healthcare, an FQHC serving low-income populations across Southern Illinois, seeks to establish sustainable medical and mental health services at schools where children struggle due to a lack of medical access created by low social determinants of health through one-time, start-up funding.

This project aims to use an interdisciplinary team of Black professionals in medicine, public health, psychology, and behavior science, in collaboration with community leaders to address the growing inequity in maternal health outcomes through community and individualized education of Black women.

Child Advocates - Denver CASA requests $50,000 to help address the gap in individualized services for older youth as they prepare to age out of the child welfare system in Denver by providing a CASA Volunteer or Mentor to participating youth in the Older Youth Program (OYP).

Workshops that encourage caregivers of LGBTQ+ youth to create accepting and affirming environments and advocate for the safety and inclusion of LGBTQ+ youth. Adult support is critical for LGBTQ+ youth mental health, suicide prevention, lifelong wellbeing, and fostering healthy relationships.

FIRST strategically integrates pregnant/postpartum people and families with lived experience into every level of maternal-infant care in Colorado healthcare facilities and communities to address root causes of maternal mortality and increase access to culturally-relevant, safe, equitable care.

Students Reaching Excellence Through Collaboration with Higher Ed (STRETCHED) is a program for high-school students designed to spark interest in healthcare careers. With this proposal, we hope to secure funding to develop the program, expanding offerings into the full four years of high school.

We are proposing to develop a mental health curriculum for Community Health Workers (CHW) that builds upon and disseminates our experiences and lessons learned integrating mental health interventions into CHW-led programs to help address health inequities and further advance this important career.

Funding from Telligen will advance MDCC’s behavioral health workforce development program that creatively supports providers across the career lifespan through the agency’s successful internship, fellowship, contract, and affiliate provider programs.

SWCAHEC will contribute oversight, coordination, and training content related to working with rural, underserved, and tribal communities. The program focus will be on training Native American paraprofessionals in primary care to serve diverse community members.

There is a nationwide shortage of speech-language pathologists plus a lack of diversity in the speech-language pathology field (currently 92% white). To help diversify the field, CHAT is offering a paid summer internship to BIPOC aspiring SLPs to gain the necessary experience for graduate school entry.

CommunityHealth is a free clinic serving low-income, uninsured Chicagoans, many of whom are immigrants and do not speak English as a first language. It’s also a training ground for future healthcare professionals, allowing them the opportunity to work with this underserved, unique population.

Erie House’s Pathways to Success Program provides holistic and culturally competent healthcare career preparation to over 200 adults from low-income and immigrant families across Cook County.

Prepare Black and Latinx healthcare professionals to advance along a career pathway from CNA to BS in Nursing, advancing racial equity and health equity by boosting the region’s healthcare system. Bringing providers together across the health system to ensure a seamless pathway to advancement.

Iowa CareGivers(IC), as part of its new 3-year strategic plan framework, will pilot a more structured and branded self-care program for Direct Care Workers (DCWs), and collaborate with partners to include Community Health Workers, and Public Health Workers to reduce burnout.

Promise Community Health Center will assist licensed therapists from underrepresented backgrounds advance their knowledge and skills and achieve independent licensure, improving the accessibility of therapy services for high-risk patient populations.

To support and grow a skilled, integrated, and recovery-oriented peer workforce, we must understand peer and employer challenges in diverse communities in Iowa. We will use study findings to develop curricula, write a TA strategic plan, and broadly disseminate a best practices peer supervision guide.

In 2020, OC offered a cohort of 20 healthcare workers a way out of low-level jobs through online courses, allowing students to remain employed while working on a nursing degree. Today with 330 students enrolled, we seek funding for a program director, marketing materials, and refreshing of courses.

The OU College of Nursing Student Success Center aids in workforce development by providing intervention services for students, such as tutoring, group study sessions, academic coaching, time management, and study skills. The program aims to successfully transition from nurse formation to practice.