Planning Process Yields Funding

Two Holyoke/Springfield hospitals – Baystate Health and Sisters of Mercy – came together with local community colleges and community-based workforce development centers to address a staffing crisis in the region’s health care industry. With the support of a workforce development planning grant, IISC guided the participants through a planning process that identified and engaged a myriad of stakeholders and ultimately resulted in a successful bid for implementation funding from Commonwealth Corp. The newly formed collaborative is focusing on diversifying and amplifying job opportunities at the entry level of the health care industry in the Holyoke/Springfield region with the goal of developing a workforce that is prepared to meet the needs of the industry and is reflective of the populations served.