WORKFORCE INNOVATION
@ THE HEALTH COLLABORATIVE
Increasing the size, diversity, and preparedness of the region’s healthcare talent pipeline
Our healthcare workforce initiatives
For more than a decade, Workforce Innovation at The Health Collaborative has been committed to growing our region’s healthcare talent pipeline. We lead this critical work by convening regional partners and collaborating as a group to:
- Build the skilled workforce healthcare employers need
- Provide educators the resources they need to attract and propel students into healthcare careers
- Increase students‘ access to healthcare career exploration and work-based learning opportunities
- Connect job seekers to local healthcare careers
We remain dedicated to these outcomes and to creating innovative workforce solutions to address healthcare workforce challenges.
EDUCATION PATHWAYS
Increasing access and success in pursuing healthcare careers
Aligning pathways and programs
Increasing program capacity
Identifying and removing pipeline barriers
Providing intel to assist in pursuing in-demand careers
CAREER EXPLORATION
Increasing access and opportunities to explore health careers
Offering our career exploration programs
Providing support to new offerings
Creating resources to share opportunities broadly
Promoting a variety of in-demand quality health careers
CONVENING
Bringing partners together to ideate and solve critical workforce concerns
Sharing best practices
Identifying and advocating for smart regulations
Investing in equitable outcomes
Developing systemic and sustainable change within and across institutions
FUNDING
Attracting new funding to support workforce innovation
Securing new funding
Providing seed funding for innovative solutions
Supporting partners’ grant proposals
Providing data to inform priorities and decision-making
The origin of Workforce Innovation
How we got started
In 2003, as the shortage of qualified healthcare workforce worsened, and employers vying for talent escalated, our region’s health systems came together and formed a collaboration dedicated to building the workforce they needed to fill their in-demand jobs. Workforce Innovation at The Health Collaborative is the result of over 20 years of these regional employers coming together with educators, workforce and community organizations to solve critical workforce issues.
Originally called the Health Careers Collaborative, this employer-led initiative is dedicated to increasing the size and diversity of our regional talent pools and making sure healthcare graduates and workers are appropriately prepared for success in entry- to mid-level healthcare careers.
Building partnerships
When the group initially formed, it defined its sector strategy approach from employer input, as well as that of community partners, including the Workforce Council of Southwest Ohio, Cincinnati State College, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
From 2008-2020, the Health Careers Collaborative was part of Partners for a Competitive Workforce, a multi-sector industry partnership housed at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. Partners was the regional site of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and connected to their CareerSTAT frontline healthcare workers initiative. Through these relationships, which still exist today, the collaborative benchmarked and shared best practices with healthcare partners from across the country to build a more robust and inclusive talent pipeline.
Leading workforce innovation
In 2020, the Health Careers Collaborative combined its efforts and leadership with Workforce Innovation at The Health Collaborative. The original collaborative lives on as the Workforce Advisory Council, still focused on increasing the size, diversity, and preparedness of the region’s healthcare talent pipeline.
Today, in addition to regional healthcare workforce initiatives, Workforce Innovation is convening and partnering with healthcare education and workforce leaders from across Ohio. Together, we are sharing best practices, identifying and addressing barriers, and promoting public policy and investment recommendations, all to strengthen Ohio’s healthcare workforce systems.
