Diversity in the Health Professions
College Access Key To Ensuring California’s Health Workforce of Tomorrow
 outh in California who want to pursue careers in the health professions face many obstacles. Take nursing education, for example: Tuition and fees at public colleges and universities have increased dramatically, and students must add their names to long waiting lists before being accepted. At the same time, hospitals report significant nursing shortages, and the state estimates that it has the capacity to train only half of the nursing workforce needed in the next five years.
To help address this issue, TCWF made a $210,000 grant over three years to the Campaign for College Opportunity (the Campaign) for its public education and policy advocacy efforts promoting health professions education as a strategy to develop the health care workforce of tomorrow.
“In the coming decade, our state faces significant growth which is likely to result in an additional 640,000 California students seeking college over current capacity by 2014,” said Abdi Soltani, executive director of the Campaign. “This has serious implications for health care workforce development — and ultimately, health care delivery.”
To help inform its efforts, the Campaign commissioned a study titled “Keeping California’s Edge,” by the Applied Research Center of California State University, Sacramento, to analyze the state’s future workforce needs. It found that health care was among the top industries needing college-trained workers.
“By addressing California’s health care workforce needs in terms of the future of the state’s economy, we’ve been able to build broad-based support that includes the business, labor and education sectors,” said Bill Hauck, board chair of the Campaign and president of the California Business Roundtable.
 The Campaign’s efforts have resulted in significant statewide media coverage and enthusiastic support from key state legislators, including Sen. Jack Scott (D-Pasadena) and Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Senate Education Committee. The senators have since introduced SB 890, which renews the promise of a spot in college for qualified high school graduates – a promise first made in 1960 with California’s master plan for higher education.
“The Campaign wisely involves youth in its advocacy efforts, since they are most affected by policies that contribute to barriers to completing higher education programs required to work in the health professions,” said TCWF’s Saba Brelvi, program director.
The “Save Me a Spot in College” scholarship contest provides a forum for youth to tell California leaders why they deserve access to higher education through their entries in written word, poster or digital media format. In its first year, the program awarded $70,000 in college scholarships to middle and high school youth throughout the state. The awardees have been profiled in the media and have shared their entries with legislators and other policymakers.
“This country has helped me do so many things and I want to thank it by going to college and becoming a doctor,” 14-year-old Jorge Jimenez of Costa Mesa wrote in his entry. “If you save me a spot in college, I’ll become a doctor and I will save peoples’ lives.”
For more information, please visit www.collegecampaign.org
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