Advocate Aurora Health announced it is directing $675,000 in grants through its Better Together Fund to support the development of a diverse Milwaukee-area health care workforce.
The new round of grants is part of an overall $2.1 million investment that the health system announced last month.
The latest grant recipients include:
- A $200,000 grant to Milwaukee Jobs Work’s Pathways to Healthcare Careers program, which expands job skills development and tutoring programs for central Milwaukee city residents with limited work histories and significant barriers to long-term, successful employment.
- A $200,000 grant to Cream City Medical Society/Milwaukee Health Services to provide seed funding for the Physician Recruitment Scholarship Fund, a key component of the Pathways to Practice program for African American physician development.
- A $200,000 grant to Wisconsin Area Health Education Center’s community health workers training program expansion. The grant will develop a virtual community health workers training program and provide one-on-one coaching/mentoring for an additional six months to hone skills and provide career support services.
- A $75,000 to the Hispanic Collaborative’s rapid cohort upskilling model, which will recruit Latinos into a bilingual certified nursing assistant training program.
“COVID-19 has amplified the disproportionate impact illness can have on people simply because of the zip code in which they live. These programs will not only help remove barriers to a career in health care, but also create a workforce more reflective of the communities they serve, encouraging more individuals to seek care when it’s needed,” said Cristy Garcia-Thomas, chief external affairs officer for Advocate Aurora Health.
Earlier rounds of grant funding were directed to: the Hispanic Collaborative’s MercadoMKE program, the African American Chamber of Commerce’s RISE MKE Entrepreneurial Training Program, Sigma Pi Phi Beta Alpha Boulé/Marquette University Center for Peacemaking, UMOS’ sexual assault and domestic violence program; and The Asha Project’s sexual assault and domestic violence program.
