As a part of our ongoing policy work in rural eastern North Carolina, we hold monthly sessions in which we listen to our community to identify priority issues and then fuse community knowledge, international best practices, and local connections to solve them.

This month we centered our discussion around how ROI can facilitate the creation of additional healthcare positions by creating a school to work pipeline. Participants brainstormed various community partnerships who might be able to aid in creating such a pipeline. Additionally, we looked to existing programs that have produced similar results across the state.

Discussion Highlights

• We evaluated the current state of healthcare position vacancies in addition to the ability to transform Nash and Edgecombe County workers into healthcare professionals.
  • As of now Nash and Edgecombe have 240 vacancies in nursing positions and 60 in home health aides.
  • A local social worker suggested partnering with the LINCS social workers program and other state DSS agencies to create interest in young adults.
• Afterward, we identified areas of need for such a pipeline in addition to gaps in current similar models to more effectively drive people into healthcare positions.
  • Many members discussed the heightened need for such a program in local communities amid anxieties concerning federal Medicaid funding cuts.
  • While answering why existing guidance programs aren’t working one teacher expressed frustrations stating, “I work with high-risk teens, and they are taught what not to do instead of what to do so they need guidance and something to turn to.”
• Beyond healthcare and social work, we established other fields that could benefit from a similar pre-professional school pipeline.
  • Among the professions discussed, a commonality was a desire for greater options for remote work flexibility following workplace changes post COVID.
  • Of the remote positions, one member recommended modeling off the Yearup program (https://www.yearup.org/) which trains 18–25-year-olds for 6 months to work remote jobs, typically in the IT realm.
• Finally, we looked to how potential increases in funding for apprenticeships and community colleges could affect pre-professional pipelines.
  • To help bridge the gap between high school and college, one member posited offering pre-nursing classes as a part of high school dual enrollment programs with local colleges.