TOPPENISH, Wash.-Heritage University has been awarded a $1.4 million grant to address the shortage of nurses in Central Washington.
Heritage announced the three-year grant, that will be used to launch a program to address the nursing shortage in rural communities, on Feb. 5. Funding will come from the Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development (RPED) grant program.
According to a Heritage press release, the “Pathways to Opportunity” program is designed to boost the number of skilled and diverse nurses, implementing a Grow Your Own model to engage local high school students, guide them through college preparation and, ultimately, recruit them into the university’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.
“This substantial investment from the Biden-Harris administration underscores the importance of addressing the critical shortage of nurses in rural communities and Heritage University’s role in helping to fill those gaps,” said Heritage University Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Melissa Hill, Ph.D.
The Grow Your Own model includes outreach efforts in the high schools to identify and support students interested in becoming nurses and guide and prepare them for college, according to Heritage.
Heritage’s Pathways to Opportunity program will focus on Native American, Hispanic, low-income, and first-generation high school and college students, with outreach targeting students in the eight high schools and one tribal school in the area.
More information on the program is available by contacting Melissa Hill at (509) 865-8584 or hill_m@heritage.edu.
