East Metro Health Careers Institute

Purpose: To provide career ladder opportunities in health care for low-income or no-income
workers. Grant: $250,000 awarded August 2001, to serve 120 participants in two years; renewed at $200,000 for two additional years, August 2003

Together with Century College and five East Metro Area hospitals, the Allina Foundation and the Ramsey County Workforce Center are working together to create the East Metro Health Careers Institute. The purpose of the institute is to replicate a successful initiative from the west metro that trains current employees and entry level individuals for skilled health care positions with career laddering potential in area hospitals.

The goals of this program are to combine the missions and resources of public and private institutions to fund career ladder training programs that move disadvantaged and low income workers toward economic independence while supplying the needs of health care institutions, and to expand opportunities for self-sufficiency and career development while addressing the critical shortage of trained and certified health care workers in the east metro area.

In the end, the target is to place 120 trained employees with participating hospitals and to have them be retained there for one year or more, with one-third of those placed to be recruited from current entry-level hospital workers, one-third to be recruited from targeted neighborhoods, and one-third to be moving off of MFIP. They eventually plan on advocating for MnSCU to adopt a more flexible approach to workforce development that combines the speed and flexibility of customized training with college credits, and for local hospitals to adopt meaningful career ladders in all health career tracks. They also hope to develop a model of sectoral workforce development that can be applied to other sectors.

	Partners:
		Educational:Century College, St. Paul Technical College
		Employers and business organization: Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, HealthEast Care System, Regions Hospital, United Hospital
		Non-Profit Organizations: Twin Cities Rise! (training provider)
		Public philanthropic, and other organizations: Workforce Solutions
	Participants: Entry level hospital employees, low-income workers who want careers in health care, MFIP recipients, and recent immigrants
	Recruitment: As a strategy to develop career laddering opportunities, at least half of the targeted individuals to be enrolled in the first phase of the project will already be employed in the hospitals. The remaining openings will be filled through a process of recruiting individuals from communities surrounding the hospitals, with the intent that upon graduation and hiring the income levels of community residents will be increased
	Training: Approximately five weeks of full-time hard skills training through the technical colleges. Some students receive some soft skills, computer, and/or basic skills training if needed, through Workforce Solutions or Twin Cities Rise! ESL training was offered once, to one class
	Support Services: Each participant has an individualized education plan which includes case management to help identify and meet needs for support services
	Job placement, retention and advancement: Participating hospital partners guarantee a job offer to everyone who graduates from the program in the first phase of the program and meets the hiring requirement, or return tuition to students who have met the requirements but are not hired