December 12, 2003

Partners HealthCare awarded workforce development grant

Partners HealthCare has received a three-year, $1 million grant to create health care career opportunities for low-income Boston residents and address an urgent need for skilled and educated health care professionals in nursing, radiology technology and surgical technology.

The grant was announced Nov. 17 by the Boston Workforce Development Initiative – a funding partnership of local and national foundations, with city and state government, led by the Boston Foundation and the city of Boston. The initiative announced a total of $5 million in grants aimed at enhancing employment opportunities for low-income Boston residents over the next three to five years. The initiative seeks to change the way employers hire and promote entry-level workers from Boston's neighborhoods and to raise the income level and standard of living for immigrants and other low-income Boston residents.

The Partners in Career and Workforce Development program, which began Dec.1, will increase education and skills training opportunities for 500 new and current workers during the next three years.

The Partners program includes pre-employment training for people entering the workforce, exposure to health careers through job shadowing and health fairs, career planning, and educational courses and programs developed in collaboration with community colleges and community-based workforce development organizations. 

"This grant will enable Partners to address a serious labor shortage in nursing, radiology technology, surgical technology and other skilled health care professions and at the same time enable our entry-level and incumbent workers to receive the education and training they need to move into professional careers in health care," said James J. Mongan, MD, president and CEO of Partners.

The program is led by Partners Community Benefit Programs and Human Resources. It is a collaboration of Partners hospitals and community organizations, including the MGH, BWH, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Jewish Vocational Service, WorkSource Partners, Whittier Street Health Center, Project HOPE/Transition to Work, the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Community College, Mass Bay Community College, Roxbury Community College and the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.