If your organization provides health services, you may be interested in finding grants to hire, train, and retain your healthcare workforce, especially nurses.
Helping organizations expand their workforce is what we love to do at SGR. But, developing these types of program take more time than others. You will need to consider the following;
1) Who do you want to target?
Often there is federal funding for "step-up" programs. Which means, investing in your current staff. How can a grant help the medical assistant, become a certified nurse assistant (CNA), help a CNA become an LPN, help an LPNs become a registered nurse, and finally help the R. N. get their Bachelor of Nursing degree and step up into management?
2) Who can you partner with?
Federal funders look favorably upon mutually beneficial collaborations with Community Colleges, and minority-serving institutions, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving universities, and schools serving Native/Tribal Communities. The key is creating a mutually beneficial pipeline for talent. Ask potential partners how much grant money and support they need. Don't leave them the scraps.
3)Last, Who in Leadership Needs to Champion this initiative?
If I asked you to have your President or CEO sign a Letter of Commitment and Sustainability for at least three years, what would you say? If it seems like an impossible ask, you have work to do before applying for a workforce grant. Leadership buy-in is critical to program success for workforce programs.
Too often, when these initiatives start at the staff level, they do not last. Is the need for workforce grants clearly aligned with the leadership's priorities? You will need leadership to think about compensation, incentives, and extra mentorship and support.
As a fly on the wall, I've heard these types of programs can often cause tension with current staff who feel overworked and underappreciated.
So, help leadership think about ways a grant for recruitment could also support retention. Starting with a review of compensation.
There is much to do before submitting a healthcare workforce grant application. But if you are up to the task, we have a few suggestions for you in our articles "Grants for Nursing", and "11 Grants for Healthcare Workers". You may also be interested in our article, "How can a medical center use grants".
If any of the opportunities interest you, please fill out our Grant Support Need form, and we can come up with an action plan together. We would love to help you solve this challenge.
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