Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative Nursing Education Initiative

The San Francisco Foundation

JVS (Jewish Vocational Service) San Francisco; Chabot Community College; Oakland Adult Career Education; Alameda County Medical Center; Kaiser Permanente, Northern California; The California Endowment; David B. Gold Foundation

Jessica Pitt, Coordinator, Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative, jmp@sff.org, 415-733-8560

Tim Combs, Director of Nursing Initiatives, JVS San Francisco, tcombs@jvs.org, 415-391-3600

Brief Project Synopsis: 

The Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC), an initiative of The San Francisco Foundation, is a partnership of over 15 philanthropic foundations which have pooled funds to support sector workforce training programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its founding in 2004, the BAWFC has invested over $6.5 million in workforce training programs in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. To date, the BAWFC has invested $1.2 million in nursing training programs which have prepared close to 400 nurses for nursing jobs in the Bay Area.

Building on its success to date convening the regional foundation community to address nursing workforce issues, the BAWFC seeks to deepen its commitment to building the nursing workforce in collaboration with the PIN program. The BAWFC’s Nursing Education Initiative includes three program components: 1) launch of the East Bay Immigrant Nurse Re-entry Program (INRP), which will prepare foreign educated nurses to practice in the United States; 2) launch a community college capacity building initiative, with a focus on strengthening nursing education programs; and 3) strengthen the BAWFC partnership and partner investments in nursing projects.

Project Goals and Objectives:

• Through LVN and RN Refresher Programs, the INRP will prepare 80 foreign educated nurses for employment in Bay Area hospitals and healthcare facilities.
• The BAWFC will invest in Bay Area community colleges to expand and strengthen nursing education programs.
• Building on the expertise it has already developed, the BAWFC will draw together an even broader coalition of foundation funding partners to invest in the replication, scaling, and sustainability of nursing education programs.