(Reposted from LeadingAge National)
A $6 million America’s Promise grant, awarded to Grand Rapids Community College last year, is helping 4 LeadingAge members recruit and retain qualified certified nursing assistants.
Four LeadingAge members in Grand Rapids, MI, are breathing a little easier these days, and they have their new best friend—Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC)—to thank for that.
The friendship with GCC has allowed Clark Retirement Community, Holland Home, Porter Hills, and Sunset Manor and Villages to play a key role in a $6 million America’s Promise grant that is helping them recruit and retain qualified certified nursing assistants (CNA). GRCC received the grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) last fall.
The America’s Promise initiative was established in 2016 to accelerate the development and expansion of regional workforce partnerships committed to providing a pipeline of skilled workers in specific sectors.
The 4 life plan communities first connected with GRCC through the Grand Rapids Health Career Council, which brings together providers of health care and long-term services and supports (LTSS) to devise strategies for recruiting the next generation of front line workers. Julie Parks, GRCC’s executive director of workforce training, came to the council to find out how the college might help.
AMERICA’S PROMISE: ADDRESSING WORKER AND EMPLOYER CHALLENGES
When DOL released its request for proposals for the America’s Promise Grant, Parks and her team at GRCC began connecting the dots. Providers of health care and aging services were experiencing workforce challenges at the same time that residents of inner-city neighborhoods were experiencing unemployment rates that were as much as 10% higher than the citywide average of 4%.
Parks began exploring strategies to create meaningful career pathways for residents of those high-unemployment neighborhoods, and she felt the LTSS field was a good place to start.
“We thought this could be an opportunity to build a pipeline that would begin with entry-level positions like CNAs, but would then help workers follow a career pathway to become registered nurses, researchers, and maybe someone who could lead an LTSS setting,” says Parks.
The idea of building career pathways within the LTSS field appealed to providers who knew from experience that young people are generally not interested in staying in CNA jobs for a lifetime. Career pathways, they felt, could provide meaningful careers that could translate into long-term employment.
“The new tenure (for frontline workers) really is 18 months, to be honest,” says Ruth Mooney, talent acquisition & training specialist at Porter Hills. “At one time, we were used to people staying with an organization for a very long time, but that is no longer the mentality, nor is it the expectation.”
Brian Pangle, president and chief executive officer (CEO) at Clark Retirement Community, was particularly excited about the prospect of tapping into the new pool of workers that GRCC was targeting with its recruitment activities.
“This is a cohort of people who we probably wouldn’t have talked to in the past,” says Pangle about residents of inner-city neighborhoods. “They wouldn’t have had the financial capacity to get the credentials they needed to be a care partner. We’re hoping that (this grant) will open up the door a little bit more for a few more people.”
HELPING TO BUILD TOMORROW’S WORKFORCE
Clark Retirement Community, Holland Home, Porter Hills, and Sunset Manor all agreed to support GRCC’s America’s Promise grant in a variety of ways, including working closely with the grant’s Curriculum Committee to provide valuable insights about the kind of training LTSS workers need.
Those discussions led GRCC to develop and implement a 112-hour training program for aspiring CNAs who could fill growing gaps in the LTSS frontline workforce. The state of Michigan requires a 70-hour CNA curriculum, but GRCC added an extra 42 training hours based on feedback from providers about the skills they felt CNAs needed to succeed.
“The students need to be able to multi-task and work with multiple people, so we had to design the curriculum to teach them how to do that,” says Parks. “They also need to know how to show up on time, how to dress appropriately, how to talk to their supervisors. Those soft skills are a big part of the training class. That’s how it grew from 70 hours to 112.”
GRCC is using funds from the America’s Promise grant to reduce the training program’s tuition, says Parks. Each CNA-in-training pays only $300 for the 4-week program, which is much less than the $1,000 to $1,200 that other CNA training programs charge. Trainees who can’t afford the $300 fee can seek financial assistance from West Michigan Works, a DOL one-stop center that serves as a facilitator for the Health Career Council. Some providers offer to reimburse the tuition fee if a program graduate takes a job with them.
LTSS organizations take an active role in the training program, even though there are no guarantees that program graduates will come to work for them. Providers participate in panel discussions that educate students about the jobs awaiting them after graduation. In addition, each provider has committed to hosting one clinical rotation every year so students can practice what they learn in the classroom. Providers also help recruit students for the training program.
“When you bring an employer out with you to talk to students about CNA training, it changes the discussion,” says Parks. “All of a sudden, it is not about recruiting you for a program, it is about what career do you want and what does that career looks like in the real world. That helps kids get excited about this field, and helps adults see a place where they would fit in the job market.”
Holland Home has taken its involvement in the CNA program one step further by contributing $50,000 to build the classroom and 5-station training lab where students attend class and practice their skills. Funds for the training facility, which is located at Holland Home’s corporate headquarters, come from the organization’s capital budget. Holland Home CEO and President Mina Breuker expects that the organization’s investment will more than pay for itself over time as Holland House recruits more high-quality CNAs and reduces its turnover and recruitment costs.
TALKING TO COLLEGES AND EACH OTHER
Julie Parks has one piece of advice for LTSS providers facing workforce challenges: talk to your competitors, just like members of the Grand Rapids Health Career Council did.
“Find a facilitator that is neutral,” she advises. “Make a commitment that for 6 months you are going to meet once a month for an hour and start to figure this out. Get the state to provide some labor data for you, because that gives you a good place to start talking.”
And then, start talking with your community college, advises Doug Himmelein, vice president of human resources at Holland Home.
“GRCC brings an education value that none of us have,” he says. “We are experts in health care, but we need an expert in education to supply the qualified, trained individuals that we need so we can continue providing great quality care.”
