Advocate Health Care and JPMorgan Chase recently commemorated a successful Phase One of the Healthcare Workforce Collaborative, a health care-focused, skills-based training initiative designed to connect Chicagoland’s underemployed and unemployed residents with high-quality, in-demand jobs. Congresswoman Robin Kelly joined Advocate Health Care and JPMorgan Chase executives and other corporate and community leaders at Advocate Trinity Hospital to recognize the recent graduation of the inaugural class.
“This initiative has truly changed my life,” said LaSonna Reeves, Chatham resident and program participant with a focus in nursing. “It wasn’t long ago that I was overcome with financial stress and lacked the resources to secure a decent job. The Healthcare Workforce Collaborative gave me the training and confidence I needed to get back into the workforce, rebuild my life and reach my potential.
In October 2015, JPMorgan Chase presented a $3 million grant to the Advocate Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of Advocate Health Care, as a part of the bank’s New Skills at Work program, a global workforce readiness initiative aimed at addressing the skills gap. This investment in the Chicago community supports economic growth and helps build a competitive and diverse workforce to meet the needs of the region’s rapidly growing health care industry, which is projected to have a 14.7 percent increase in available jobs by 2022. Because of Advocate and the provider community’s significant hiring ability, the trained candidates are connected directly to open job opportunities.
“The Healthcare Workforce Collaborative is a modern and sustainable solution to the growing need for skilled talent to fill high-demand health care jobs across this region,” said Daylashunta Randolph, Vice President, Learning Institutes, Advocate Health Care. “By providing skills-based training in a clinical setting, we are not only developing an organic pipeline of talent to meet the health care industry’s need for trained talent in the Chicago- land market, but we are also reducing the education gap and creating a pathway to success for populations in need of new economic opportunities.”
Through an innovative training initiative, participants develop the skills necessary to gain access to middle-skill health care career positions. After successful completion of the training and licensing exam, all participants will be guaranteed an interview with Advocate and receive job placement assistance for careers with one of the region’s health care providers.
“This initiative marks the beginning of a robust and collaborative effort to create inclusive economic opportunity for Chicagoland workers and ensure the delivery of quality healthcare to residents and JPMorgan Chase is proud to be a part of it,” said Whitney Smith, executive director of Corporate Responsibility in the Midwest, JPMorgan Chase. “The pro- gram has the potential to create healthcare career pathways for hundreds of individuals who will work in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare facilities throughout the region.”
To ensure the initiative is broad reaching and comprehensive, Advocate has led the charge in establishing the Healthcare Workforce Collaborative and strategic alliances with City Colleges of Chicago, Instituto Del Progreso Latino, Phalanx Family Services and the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. Advocate and JPMorgan Chase urge other key corporate, community and economic development organizations to join forces in creating these opportunities.
“With philanthropic alignments like the Healthcare Workforce Collaborative, we can continue to transform health care delivery and create sustainable economic opportunities for our region’s most vulnerable populations,” said Randy Varju, President, Advocate Charitable Foundation and chief Development Officer, Advocate Health Care. “Without a doubt, the impact of this grant will be longstanding and transformative for many of the communities we are so privileged to serve.”
The Healthcare Workforce Collaborative will be implemented at Advocate Trinity Hospital, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Advocate Christ Medical Center and Advocate South Suburban Hospital.
For more information on the Healthcare Workforce Collaborative, visit advocategiving.org/work- force.
About Advocate Health Care
Advocate Health Care is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. A national leader in population health management, Advocate is one of the largest Accountable Care Organizations in the country. Advocate operates more than 350 sites of care and 12 hospitals, including two of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, the state’s largest integrated children’s network, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health and hospice companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $783 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2014.
About Advocate Charitable Foundation
As the philanthropic arm of Advocate Health Care, Advocate Charitable Foundation’s mission is to build relationships and partnerships across Chicagoland that will inspire charitable giving by individuals, foundations, corporations and organizations. Philanthropic contributions support Advocate’s commitment to clinical excellence and community outreach across its hospitals and more than 350 sites of care. Many of these initiatives could not be funded without charitable contributions.
More information is available at advocategiving.org.
