The Nursing Education Investment Grants Program has awarded $771,000 in funds to four projects working to advance nursing education at the California Community Colleges

SACRAMENTO, CA—August 15, 2022—The Foundation for California Community Colleges’ (FoundationCCC) Nursing Education Investment Grants Program recently announced its awardees for the 2022 grants cycle. In total, $771,000 was awarded to campus and organization projects focused on nursing education and training which address bias reduction, improve degree access and completion, incorporate technological advances, and implement faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) development into curricula.

For this fiscal year, thirteen applications were received, with eight from individual California community colleges, two from community college foundations, one from a community college district, one from a California State University, and one from an online clinical placement scheduling tool. Project proposals were evaluated by the program guidelines provided to all applicants, and the final awardees were chosen for their noted alignment with four priorities of the Nursing Education Investment Grants Program to:

• Address systemic racism in nursing education programs, including efforts to diversify education pipelines, reduce harmful bias in learning environments, improve classroom or clinical placement climate for students of color, or enhance curriculum by integrating a focus on eliminating racial discrimination in health care.
• Implement strategies that lead to well-prepared and diverse nursing faculty and program directors.
• Create educational and career pathways through new, enhanced, replicated, or expanded programs, which may include effective practices for remote or virtual learning that will lead to nursing student success.
• Provide academic, clinical, and other work-based learning opportunities that ensure nurses are well-prepared to assume evolving and expanded roles in changing practice environments.

This year’s awardees are as follows:

• Cabrillo College – “Racial Diversity in Simulation: An Opportunity to Enhance Nursing Curriculum”: The project aims to develop an action plan to reduce bias in simulated learning environments and enhance racial diversification in nursing education. The project encompass three key objectives: Securing anikins and task trainers which reflect diverse individuals, providing faculty development to explore issues of racial injustice and incorporate into simulation curriculum, and increasing and improving use of simulation with targeted learning objectives to eliminate racial discrimination in healthcare.
• Cerro Coso Community College – Phase 2: Addressing Critical Need with Development of Associate Degree in Nursing (RN) Program: Cerro Coso Community College is in the second phase of creating an Associate Degree of Nursing program to support the critical need for nurses in the region. The proposed project would provide dedicated release time for faculty to complete the self-study report as part of the approval process with the Board of Registered Nursing. The project would also support development of high school student pipelines in underserved communities by promoting enrollment and providing required course materials.
• Centralized Clinical Placement System – Student Ready Mobile App: A student-centered mobile app will be developed to simplify nursing student onboarding for clinical rotations. Centralized Clinical Placement System (CCPS) is a web-based application that streamlines clinical placements and compliance tracking. CCPS’s Student Ready offering allows students to view and upload requirements for each clinical environment. A mobile app will help students who rely on smartphones equitably access clinical rotations, a critical need to diversity the workforce.
• Mt. San Antonio College – Faculty and Nursing Leadership Professional Development in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and DEI Committee Establishment in the Nursing Department: The proposed project will implement faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) development leading to well-prepared and diverse nursing faculty. This will prepare faculty to develop a DEI Committee for continuous and ongoing improvement of equity outcomes in the nursing department. An adequate supply of highly-qualified, diverse nurse educators is critical to achieving successful educational outcomes in preparing competent nurses to address, organize, and guide DEI efforts in health care.

FoundationCCC awards Nursing Education Investment Grants to support projects that facilitate, coordinate with, or complement efforts to educate and train nurses through California community colleges. Grant funding is provided by the Nursing Education Investment Fund established in 2005 through an agreement between FoundationCCC, WellPoint, Inc., and the Insurance Commissioner for the State of California, and is designed to benefit nursing education within the California Community College system. FoundationCCC maintains the fund and administers grantmaking.

To learn more about the Nursing Education Investment Grants Program and about past awarded projects and grantees, please go here.

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About the Foundation for California Community Colleges
The Foundation for California Community Colleges is the official nonprofit foundation to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and Chancellor’s Office. The Foundation’s mission is to benefit, support, and enhance the missions of the California Community Colleges system, the largest higher education system in the nation. Incorporated in 1998, the Foundation works to benefit all California Community College students, colleges, college foundations, and the system as a whole by accelerating paths to economic and social mobility, strengthening communities, and reducing barriers to opportunities for all Californians. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. For more information, visit www.foundationccc.org.