A new $1 M grant from the HCA HealthCare Foundation is helping high school students embark on an array of healthcare careers.
HCA Healthcare announces HCA healthcare Foundation’s $1 million grant to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations
HCA Healthcare, Inc. one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced that the HCA Healthcare Foundation, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, will donate $1 million over the next three years to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (Consortium) to help fund its Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program. The Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program aims to help create and expand healthcare career pathways for underserved high school students across the state of Florida.
“We are passionate about investing in the communities we serve and developing the next generation of healthcare leaders and professionals,” said Joanne Pulles, vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare and president of the HCA Healthcare Foundation. “It is important for us to work with the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, which is deeply involved in communities across Florida, to expose students to opportunities available to create a fulfilling career in healthcare.”
The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Workforce Needs Study estimates there to be a shortage of approximately 463,000 healthcare workers by the end of 2024. Through the Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program, the Consortium will develop and manage a grant process which allows local education foundations to apply for grant funds in support of local projects that foster healthcare career pathways. The program will fund 15 local education foundations in Florida over the next three years, focusing on activities that lead to nursing or allied health tracks and include work-based learning, healthcare career exploration activities and industry certifications.
The Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program grant is funded through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, a community impact fund focused on addressing high-priority community needs and health equity. Since its launch in 2021, the Fund has committed more than $20 million in communities where HCA Healthcare has a presence and made grants to 90 nonprofit organizations.
“We are thrilled to partner with HCA Healthcare Foundation on this transformative initiative. This generous grant not only addresses a critical workforce need by fostering healthcare careers among Florida’s youth, but also leverages our capacity to connect students to their communities for meaningful and potentially life-changing learning opportunities,” said Mary Chance, president & CEO of the Consortium. “Together, we’re paving the way for a healthier, more prosperous future for Florida.”
HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have a strong history of collaboration with the Consortium and its members. In 2023, the Consortium received a $25,000 Healthier Tomorrow Fund Partnership Cultivation Grant on behalf of the organization’s North Florida Division. HCA Healthcare has also partnered with several of Florida’s local education foundations through the Consortium’s Explore & Excel in Healthcare Careers program, which allows students to visit local hospitals for tours and learn more about education pathways that lead to healthcare careers and provides healthcare equipment for hands-on learning in classrooms. HCA Healthcare colleagues are also active as board members and volunteers with local education foundations.
The 15 local education foundations awarded are:
- Education Foundation of Palm Beach County
- Education Foundation of Okeechobee
- Lucie County Education Foundation
- Education Foundation of Martin County
- The Education Foundation of Alachua County
- Escambia County Public Schools Foundation
- Public Education Foundation of Marion County
- Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools
- Foundation for Orange County Public Schools
- Clay Education Foundation
- Jacksonville Public Education Fund
- Pinellas Education Foundation
- Pasco Education Foundation
- Citrus County Education Foundation
- Manatee Education Foundation
