25 Apr White House Launches New Health Career Pathways Initiative

Today, the White House announced the Obama Administration’s launch of the Health Career Pathways initiative in partnership with Hope Street Group and the Advisory Board. Health Career Pathways is part of the President’s broader agenda to create pathways to the middle-class and invest in job-driven training. The Health Career Pathways initiative will unite and work with communities across the country to increase the number of Americans rapidly trained for sustaining, well-paying healthcare jobs.

Healthcare is currently the largest employment sector with more than one million job openings and counting. This increasing demand for skilled care can be alleviated by incumbent and potential workers that do not currently possess the necessary skills for a successful career in healthcare. Health Career Pathways is a collaborative community effort designed to build talent for entry-level and middle-skill careers in healthcare. By bringing together healthcare providers, local workforce and economic development organizations, community colleges and community-based organizations, this initiative will develop and validate competency models and career pathways so that individuals can earn family-sustaining wages.

Hope Street Group is uniquely positioned to spearhead and manage these pilots through its partnerships with workforce organizations, including Goodwill International Industries, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, National Association of Workforce Boards, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and Office of Community College Research & Leadership, and has the ability to connect and leverage community workforce infrastructures underway. Hope Street Group seeks to maximize efforts and impact by coordinating the pilots, engaging the appropriate partners and sharing tools for wider industry replication throughout the next 18 months.

Health Career Pathways will launch in seven pilot regions: Sacramento, CA, Charlotte, NC, Denver, CO, Grand Rapids and Muskegon, MI, Minneapolis, MN, Bronx, Westchester and Hudson Valley, NY, and New York, NY. These communities are committing to take action–to work collaboratively to create and adopt a common competency model and career pathways–to expand access to healthcare jobs. The projected impact of this critical work will be:

• Increased career advancement for individuals in the healthcare industry
• A more skilled, qualified workforce that meets the needs of employers
• More efficient and transparent hiring processes adopted by employers
• Improved quality of care provided at healthcare institutions

Through Health Career Pathways, vetted career pathways will support individuals with career counseling, education, training and support services to secure placement into entry-level jobs while providing advancement opportunities to middle-skill jobs that provide family-sustaining wages and long-term careers.

To learn more about how you can join the movement, please visit http://www.healthcareerpathways.org.

Press Contact:
Chimdi Ihezie
Manager, External Affairs and Outreach
443-326-3469
chimdi@hopestreetgroup.org