Workforce Development - Workforce Development Special Projects

Workforce Development Solicitations for Proposals
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Workforce Investment Act Funds

Industries With a Statewide Need - Nursing Shortage in Healthcare – Award List and Project Summaries

On December 22, 2005, grants were awarded to 11 organizations under the Industries With a Statewide Need - Nursing Shortage in Healthcare category. Project descriptions, award amounts, and contact information are listed below.

Awardees	Award Amount
Contra Costa County	$691,547
Downey Unified School District	$420,024
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc.	$800,000
Kern Community College District	$797,848
Long Beach City	$800,000
Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health	$799,969
Los Angeles Works	$800,000
Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium	$800,000
State Center Community College District	$714,062
Verdugo Consortium	$515,000
Visalia Unified School District/Visalia Adult School	$494,589
TOTAL	$7,633,039

Contra Costa County 2425 Bisso Lane, Suite 100 Concord, CA 94520	Bob Lanter (925) 646-5239
Award Amount: $691,547
Summary: The Incumbent Nurse Upgrade Program works closely with healthcare employers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to resolve the region’s critical nursing shortage. Drawing upon the close collaboration of the four Workforce Investment Boards that comprise EASTBAY Works, this project implements an entirely employer-driven model, providing customized upgrade training for Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN) to become Registered Nurses (RN) and Associate Degree Nurses (ADN) to attain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. Hospital partners provide over $1.1 million in employer matching resources. Each employer has developed a customized training and support program tailored to the needs of their nursing workforce resulting in the ability to achieve outcomes above WIA performance goals. This project plans to train 13 students for RNs, 70 employed LVNs to RNs, and 24 employed ADNs to BSNs.
Downey Unified School District 12340 Woodruff Avenue Downey, CA 90241	Roger Brossmer (562) 940-6201
Award Amount: $420,024
Summary: The Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) Training Program for low-income adults and employed Certified Nurse Assistants (CNA) and Medical Assistants project will develop and implement career ladder upgrade training to advance 60 current CNAs, Medical Assistants, and other qualified adults through a LVN training program. The project, which includes an intensive review for state licensing, will also offer follow-up job placement and job retention services. Financial aid through Pell Grant authorization is included in the project. The project will train 30 low-income/unemployed adults for LVN and 30 CNAs/Medical Assistants to LVN.
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc. 1800 Harrison Street, 17^th Floor Oakland, CA 94612	Claire Husted (510) 625-6125
Award Amount: $800,000
Summary: Accelerating the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) pipeline is a statewide strategy to address the growing shortage of qualified nursing faculty, a primary contributor to the state’s nursing shortage. Without an adequate nursing faculty, schools of nursing are crippled in their ability to expand capacity to meet the state’s growing demand for nurses. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc. will expand an existing partnership with the only two schools in California that offer an accelerated BSN nursing curriculum: Samuel Merritt College in Oakland and Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. A baccalaureate degree is the entry portal for nurses pursuing advanced degrees to become qualified nursing faculty. The project plans to train 48 individuals with Bachelor Degrees in non-nursing to Bachelor of Science Nursing Degree.
Kern Community College District 1801 Panorama Drive Bakersfield, CA 93305	Cindy Collier (661) 395-4282
Award Amount: $797,848
Summary: The Kern Community College District's Nursing Expansion Program proposes to increase the current enrollment seats available at the college by an additional 240 slots. Through collaboration and direct contributions from local hospitals, participants will be provided with a holistic program aimed at ensuring that students successfully complete their nursing education and obtain their license. Students will be provided with one-on-one case management services, individual assessments, and support in passing the NCLEX-RN licensure exam through training utilizing the MEDS Publishing system. Using on-the-job training and employer sponsored programs, students will be provided hands-on experience while obtaining classroom experience. The end product of this program will be the training of 340 RNs throughout Kern and Tulare County and the Kern Community College District's service area. The project plans to add 180 new RN enrollments and serve 160 existing program students.
Long Beach City 3447 Atlantic Avenue Long Beach, CA 90807	Bryan Rogers (562) 570-3701
Award Amount: $800,000
Summary: The Partnership to Increase Nursing Education Capacity is designed to increase the capacity of the Long Beach City College (LBCC) Associate Degree Nursing Program by 70 slots annually and provide program retention strategies of demonstrated effectiveness to maximize education outcomes through a collaborative partnership between LBCC, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center/Miller Children's Hospital, and the City of Long Beach Workforce Development Bureau. The project plans to move 36 Associate Degree students to Registered Nurses (RN) and 27 employed Licensed Vocational Nurses to RNs.
Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health 1237 North Mission Road Los Angeles, CA 90033	Nancy Miller (323) 226-4911
Award Amount: $799,969
Summary: The GROW Program will sponsor an accredited Registered Nurse (RN) education program for 50 incumbent workers of the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services (DHS) to become new RNs and be promoted and placed in one of the county’s five acute care hospitals. The GROW Program is a partnership between the County of Los Angeles College of Nursing and Allied Health and the Health Care Workforce Development Program (HCWDP). The DHS will provide eight hours per week of paid training time for employees to participate in the program. The HCWDP will provide selection, enrollment, case management, coaching, and tutoring services.
Los Angeles Works 5200 Irwindale Avenue, Suite 210 Irwindale, CA 91706	Kathy Ford (626) 960-3964
Award Amount: $800,000
Summary: The RN Residency will provide specialized hospital-based training for 180 new nurse graduates at three acute care facilities in Los Angeles County. It is a post-graduate education training program. The overall goal of the program is to retain new nurses in the field. By decreasing attrition, which occurs at levels up to 60 percent for new nurses within the first year of employment, the program will increase the number of new nurses in the county. Participating hospitals, serving as both training providers and employers, will utilize an innovative and effective training model developed by Versant, a nonprofit nursing education provider. The RN Post Graduate education plans to reduce attrition –for its 180 participants.
Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium 7420 Skyway Paradise, CA 95969	Terrianne Brown (530) 872-9600
Award Amount: $800,000
Summary: The purpose of this project is to increase training slot capacity in the Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) to Registered Nurse (RN) Bridge Program in Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity counties. If funded, there will be an additional 72 training slots over a two-year period, which will more than double current capacity. The project plans to move 72 LVNs to RNs.
State Center Community College District 1525 E. Weldon Avenue Fresno, CA 93741	Carolyn Drake (559) 244-2604
Award Amount: $714,062
Summary: This project will increase the number of Registered Nurses (RN) in Fresno County by 80. With grant and college support, Fresno City College will increase the number of slots in its RN program by 60 traditional students and 24 LVN-RN upgrade students. Classes will be offered via videoconference at the Madera College Center. Reedley College will increase the number of qualified pre-nursing students by expanding its offering of nursing prerequisite courses, supported solely with college funds. The Fresno Workforce Investment Board will provide support for eligible students, including financial assistance, career counseling, and pre/ post-employment follow-up. Local hospitals will provide space for clinical rotations.
Verdugo Consortium 1255 South Central Avenue Glendale, CA 91204	Stewart Knox (818) 409-0476
Award Amount: $515,000
Summary: The Verdugo Workforce Investment Board (WIB) has identified a serious shortage of nurses in the East San Fernando Valley, a 926,000-person region that has five major medical centers. The WIB has developed partnerships with five local nursing schools and four major hospitals to jointly implement training strategies to alleviate the growing nurses shortage. The WIB's approach focuses on maximizing the Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) to Registered Nurse (RN) program to increase its effectiveness in producing new RN graduates. Another major component of the project seeks to train RNs for specialty nurse occupations, as this area accounts for half or more of the job openings in the region. The project plans to move 47 LVNs to RNs, train 67 incumbent RNs in specialties, and move 10 RN Associate Degree nurses to BSN degree.
Visalia Unified School District/Visalia Adult School 3110 E. Houston Avenue Visalia, CA 93292	Jill Rojas (559) 730-7655
Award Amount: $494,589
Summary: Visalia Adult School proposes expansion of its Licensed Vocational Nursing (LVN) program from 30 to 60 students per year. This increase would help to alleviate a critical nursing shortage of LVNs and Registered Nurses (RN) in the targeted areas allowing for more students to attain LVN licensure for immediate employment or to participate in Bridge programs in area community colleges. These programs then provide for RN students to advance more quickly to graduation and into the workforce as RNs. Visalia Adult School has partnered with a number of agencies providing in-kind and/or cash match resources.

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