Spotlights
Quarterly Grantee Feature
An in-depth look at a Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) supported program demonstrating promising practices and measurable impact.
MARYLAND AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS
📍Regional Centers: AHEC West, Central Maryland AHEC, Eastern Shore AHEC
Strengthening Community-Based Partnerships
Challenge:
Addressing healthcare workforce shortages, particularly in rural and under-resourced communities, requires strategic partnerships and workforce development initiatives. But finding support and partnerships for workforce training can be a major challenge for many organizations.
Solution:
Maryland Area Health Education Center Program (MAHEC Program) including the partner Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) in the state (i.e., AHEC West, Eastern Shore, Central Maryland AHEC) implemented a structured and effective partnership model to develop and sustain collaborations that support healthcare workforce training, distribution, and transformation. Their model is based on the 5Ps of Partnership:
- Probe: Identifying the needs/contracts.
- Participate: Staying engaged.
- Present: Building relationships.
- Partner: Establishing partnerships.
- Praise: Thanking and giving credit.
Some of the key initiatives and exemplary partners of the MAHEC Program include the following:
- AHEC Scholars Program: Provides community-based clinical and experiential training for professionals serving in under-resourced areas. Built partnerships with academic institutions through the 5Ps of Partnership engagement process.
- Certified Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program: Trains CHWs, virtually and in-person, to enhance population health and provide health services in the community. Offers scholarship and apprenticeship opportunities to reach learners from a variety of backgrounds. Through a collaborative process using the 5Ps, the MAHEC program office and centers combined their resources, strengths, and individual networks to become leaders in Maryland for CHW training.
- Baltimore Population Health Workforce Collaborative (BPHWC): Recruits residents from low-income neighborhoods and trained then as CHWs (2017-2020). Engages healthcare organizations, academic institutions, and community-based organizations in workforce development initiatives, and leverages strategic partnerships for financial sustainability and program expansion.
- Healing Together Consortium/Certified Peer Recovery Specialists: Expands access to substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Grew from a partnership of eight organizations to over 40 organizations and individuals.
Impact:
✅ Increased the health workforce, with over 60% of AHEC Scholars from low-income neighborhoods, 41% from under-resourced communities, and 26% from rural backgrounds.
✅ Strengthened partnerships with academic institutions and fostered interprofessional education and workforce development.
✅ Expanded the health workforce by training more than 1000 CHWs and more than 170 Certified Peer Recovery Specialists in healthcare and community outreach.
✅ Through BPHWC, trained an additional 261 CHWs who were then hired for entry level jobs with hospital partners.
✅ Improved access to recovery support services through peer-led initiatives and law enforcement collaborations.
✅ Enhanced sustainability through strategic partnerships, leveraging funding and in-kind resources.
SPOTLIGHT LIBRARY: AWARDEES & PARTNERS
Learn from BHW awardees and partners through brief spotlights that highlight program challenges, solutions, and outcomes.
ASPIN: Affiliated Service Providers of Indiana
📍Indiana
Strengthening Healthcare Workforce Development Through Partnerships
How can a state best address critical shortages of healthcare and behavioral health professionals across rural and medically under-resourced communities?
Aviva Health
📍Roseburg, Oregon
Expanding Rural Healthcare Workforce Development in Oregon
Aviva Health faced ongoing workforce shortages driven by difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, limited resources for innovation, and fragmented training pathways.
Baptist Addiction Medicine Fellowship
📍Memphis, Tennessee
Addressing Stigma and Workforce Shortages
There are far too few physicians with the specialized training and experience required to effectively treat substance use disorder (SUD), and they are in high demand across healthcare organizations.
CHC, Inc.
📍Connecticut
Scaling Graduate Psychology Education for a Sustainable Workforce
How can a health center expand psychology training in a way that meets rigorous standards, supports a complex clinical environment, and aligns with staffing needs across an integrated system of medical, dental, and behavioral health services?
Citrus Health Network
📍Florida
Expanding Graduate Psychology Education with Substance Use Disorder Integration
Citrus Health Network, a health center that offers primary medical and behavioral health services, expanded their GPE program to include SUD services. However, they faced a challenge of how to enhance training across clinical, teaching, and supervisory experiences.
Family Involvement Center
📍Phoenix, Arizona
Peer-Led Support Services for Families & Youth
Families impacted by substance use disorders often struggle to access consistent behavioral health and parenting support, particularly from providers who understand the realities of recovery and child welfare involvement.
HealthLinc
📍Indiana
Seeking Excellence Through Workforce Development
Clinician shortages and retention challenges impact all levels of care and nearly every medical discipline in health centers.
Oregon Health and Science University
📍Ashland and Klamath Falls, Oregon
Street Nursing to Bring Healthcare to People Experiencing Homelessness
Individuals experiencing homelessness face significant barriers to healthcare, including lack of access, stigma, and unaddressed mental health needs.
Perelman School of Medicine
📍Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Growing the Maternal Health Workforce
Maternal healthcare is critical for women during and after pregnancy, but it is often difficult to access and a challenge to recruit staff with this type of expertise into healthcare organizations.
Pittsburg State University: School of Nursing
📍Pittsburg, Kansas
Strengthening the Forensic Nursing Workforce
Shortages of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE), particularly in rural regions, are compounded by limited training infrastructure and a lack of partnerships, leaving many communities without access to comprehensive forensic services.
Rivier University
📍Nashua, New Hampshire
Project SEND: Building Nursing Excellence
Many nurses start their careers as licensed practical nurses (LPNs), but then face barriers in the path to obtaining their registered nurse (RN) licenses. These barriers include financial strain, demanding work hours, and lack of job-based support for career growth.
Seton Hall University & City of Newark
📍New Jersey
Building a Successful Mobile Health Training Program
This program faced barriers including delays in receiving certified mobile health units, declining Master of Science in Nursing enrollment, and the need to expand eligibility and flexibility in student clinical placements.
UNC-PrimeCare and Piedmont Health Services
📍Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Strengthening the Behavioral Health Workforce Through Community-Based Partnerships
Integrated healthcare is critical to address communities needs. But how do you effectively teach new behavioral health clinicians to care for the range of needs and situations they will see in their careers?
University of Hawai’i Behavioral Health Training Institute
📍Honolulu, Hawai’i
Building Capacity for Culturally Responsive Services for Hawai’i
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities have a need for behavioral healthcare that is informed by local customs, beliefs, and values.
University of South Alabama: College of Nursing
📍Mobile, Alabama
Bridging Preventative Care and Real-World Experience
Rural and under-resourced areas in Southwest Alabama and Southeast Mississippi face high morbidity and mortality rates due to unmet health needs, compounded by a critical shortage of nurses.
Vanderbilt University
📍Nashville, Tennessee
Enhancing Maternal Healthcare
The U.S. faces a critical shortage of maternal healthcare providers, particularly in rural and medically underserved communities. Improving maternal mortality rates and addressing mental health concerns for new mothers requires enhanced training and support for future healthcare providers.
William James College
📍Newton, Massachusetts
Expanding the Behavioral Health Workforce
There are major workforce shortages in behavioral health care at all levels. High-quality, evidence-based behavioral health care that is informed by the individual’s life experienced is especially in demand for children, adolescents, and families.
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