Grant to Prepare Native American and Hispanic Students in Yakima for Nursing Careers

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing has been awarded a $739,360 grant to increase the number of Native American and Hispanic nurses serving in the Yakima Valley.

The two-year grant, called Assist Latino Community to Attain Nursing Career Employment (ALCANCE II): Reaching the Reservation, was awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. It follows a $474,000 grant, known as Alcanse I, which was awarded to the nursing school by the department in 2001.

The ALCANCE II grant is one of several grants totaling more than $1.57 million recently awarded to faculty and administrators at the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing to allow the college to expand local health care services and research opportunities throughout the state. It will allow the university to continue to work toward increasing nursing workforce diversity in the rural and medically underserved Yakima Valley by providing nursing education opportunities for minority individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

ALCANCE I assisted disadvantages minority students from high school through graduation in the bachelor’s degree program at the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing’s Yakima campus. Five nursing students in the program have graduated with bachelor’s degrees in nursing and 10 more students are in the process of completing the degree program under the initial grant.

ALCANCE retention and recruitment coordinators – one at the College of Nursing Yakima campus and one in the Toppenish area – will work as a team creating a visible presence in the Hispanic and Native American communities.

The ALCANCE II grant, which gives an additional focus to Native American students of Yakama Nation heritage, will be offered to clinic employees or community members interested in nursing through the Yakima Valley School Districts, the Hispanic Academic Achievement Program (HAAP), the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing’s Native American Recruitment and Retention Program, the Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic, and Yakama Indian Health Services.

“We expect these strategies will result in a ‘critical mass’ of Hispanic and American Indian nurses who, with the continued assistance of the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing, can step into the nursing profession prepared to work with their own populations and serve as role models and mentors for minority students in nursing,” said Dr. Phyllis Eide, assistant professor and ALCANCE II project administrator.

ALCANCE II grant goals include continuing current grant services for an additional two years to serve prenursing and nursing students already enrolled at the College of Nursing’s Yakima campus, and the strengthening of grant services targeting American Indian students through the addition of an on-site recruiter in the schools immediately adjacent to the Yakama Reservation and at other locations.

The grant includes provisions for paying prenursing student stipends of $1,500 per semester or $3,000 per year to qualified Native American students through  the Yakama Cultural Broker Program for high school students interested in nursing. The Hispanic Health Care Broker class for Hispanic/bilingual high school students will continue to teach medical care and interpretation skills.

Established in 1968, the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The college is the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium. Celebrating 35 years of world-class nursing education, the college offers baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through its four consortium partners: Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, WSU and Whitworth College. Each year the college educates more than 700 graduate and upper-division undergraduate students and prepares more entry-level nurses than any other state educational institution. For more information about the College of Nursing, visit the Web site at nursing.wsu.edu.