HealthForce Minnesota (HFMN), a Center of Excellence and a partner of the colleges and universities of Minnesota State, has been awarded a $66,340 grant to help create a strong pipeline of future healthcare professionals in Minnesota, with a special focus on the southeast Minnesota region.
The grant was awarded by the Otto Bremer Foundation, which has supported, pipeline work with high schools and Minnesota State colleges and universities over the past several years.
With this grant, HFMN plans to host 4-6 regional meetings throughout Minnesota for key stakeholders to begin a dialogue on creating a local high school health science program. HFMN will also create and distribute an educator tool kit.
HFMN works to ensure students have the academic opportunity to pursue their health science career goals by supporting the utilization of the Health Care Core Curriculum (HCCC). The HCCC is a 64-hour course that is used as a foundation for health career programs taught in both high school and college. The development of the HCCC was facilitated by HFMN in collaboration with Minnesota State college and university faculty, high school health science educators, MN Department of Health, MN Department of Education, and employers.
Through HCCC, schools and colleges will no longer need to create new curriculum or models for health career programs of study for high school and college students. In addition, students taking the HCCC in high school can receive credit for the course in career pathways at collaborating colleges.
For more information, visit the HealthForce Minnesota website at http://www.healthforceminnesota.org.
