The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $78 million in grants for 25 institutions to increase nursing faculty and diversity.
The grants, made through the Nursing Expansion Grant Program, are meant to address current and projected nursing shortages as well as increase diversity within the profession.
“The grants we’re awarding today recognize the burden so many nurses have shouldered for too long by supporting programs to expand and diversify the workforce,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Brent Parton.
Topping the list of grant recipients is the Regents of California (Davis), which received nearly $6 million. The second largest grant went to the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Charlestown, MA which noted in a press release that despite 200,000 nurse openings each year, 90,000 nursing school applicants were turned away in 2021 because there weren’t enough nursing faculty to teach them.
“Focusing on the numbers of nurses is not the only solution; we have to focus on the number of instructors, and that’s what this grant is doing,” said MGH Institute’s School of Nursing Dean Dr. Kenneth White who is also President of the American Academy of Nursing.
The Department of Labor grants aren’t the only strategy. Last year, the University of Pennsylvania received a $125 million private grant to start a tuition-free program for Nurse Practitioners to work in primary care in underserved communities.
Here are the recipients of the awards from the Department of Labor’s $78 million:
- The Regents of the University of California (Davis), $5,999,908
- Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, $5,885,354
- Arizona State University, $5,475,660
- The University of Alabama, $3,543,416
- Asian American Drug Abuse Program Inc., $3,000,000
- Broward College, $3,000,000
- Community Health Care Center Inc., $3,000,000
- Elliot Hospital, $3,000,000
- Healthcare Industry Grant Corp., $3,000,000
- University of South Dakota, $3,000,000
- Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, $3,000,000
- Employ Milwaukee Inc., $3,000,000
- Alaska Pacific University, $2,999,913
- Northwell Health Inc., $2,999,890
- Cuyahoga Community College District, $2,999,813
- The WorkPlace, $2,997,368
- Sanford Health, $2,954,400
- Atlantic Health System Inc., $2,785,263
- Thomas Edison State University, $2,761,271
- Riverside Community College District/Riverside City College, $2,681,768
- Spalding University Inc., $2,371,023
- University of Jamestown, $2,329,543
- Montana State University Billings, $1,948,894
- Yavapai County Community College District, $1,124,821
- Forward Careers Inc., $2,482,195
The contents of this feature are not provided or reviewed by NPWH.