Health Care

The NCLR Health Care Career Pathways Initiative started in 2006 with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to train bilingual Latinos in allied health care occupations.  The initiative was initially launched at two sites:  The Unity Council in Oakland, California, and Carreras en Salud in Chicago, Illinois.  Since then, NCLR has received additional funding from multiple sources to replicate the program in more sites across the United States.

This initiative uses integrated learning strategies and a contextualized curriculum to help participants gain occupation-specific skills along with improved language skills, general job skills, and other soft skills. Affiliates incorporate “bridges” that help integrate entry-level training with more advanced coursework using industry-specific contextualized curricula. Designing and teaching the subject matter in the context of their future work environment increases students’ interest and ability to learn concepts. This further prepares them for the specific demands of the occupation for which they are being trained.

The Carreras en Salud program was selected in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Labor at its Workforce Innovations Conference for the Recognition of Excellence Award. The video below showcases the Carreras en Salud program.

The NCLR Health Care Career Pathways Initiative was expanded to five additional sites with funding received from Walmart Foundation in 2012.  The five sites are:

• The Unity Council (Oakland, California)
• Centro Hispano (Madison, Wisconsin)
• Make the Road New York (New York, New York)
• Central States SER Jobs in Progress (Chicago, Illinois)
• East Los Angeles Skills Center (Los Angeles, California)

Through the 2010–2013 U.S. Department of Labor grant, the following organizations are being supported:

• Association House of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
• Humboldt Park Vocational Education Center of Wilbur Wright College (Chicago, Illinois)
• Instituto del Progreso Latino (Chicago, Illinois)

Past NCLR grantees for this initiative include:

• Calexico Community Action Council (Calexico, California)
• Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School (Washington, DC)
• Friendly House (Phoenix, Arizona)
• Iowans for Social and Economic Development (Des Moines, Iowa)
• La Alianza Hispana (Roxbury, Massachusetts)

Highlights:

• Since 2010, 803 participants have enrolled in the NCLR Health Care Career Pathways Initiative.
• Seventy-eight percent of participants successfully graduated from the NCLR Health Care Career Pathways Initiative.
• Participants have been placed in jobs with an average wage of $13.66 per hour, which represents an average wage gain of $9.39 per hour for most participants from their previous jobs.

For more information, please contact Surabhi Jain, Manager, Career Pathways Initiatives, at sjain@nclr.org or Maria Pestalardo, Carreras en Salud Project Coordinator, at mpestalardo@nclr.org.