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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Robert E. Belfanti, Jr. |
  
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State funds to boost local nursing education opportunities
HARRISBURG, Sept. 16 – State Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr. announced today that prospective nursing students in Northumberland, Montour, Columbia and other counties in the region will benefit from a portion of $750,000 in state grant funding Pennsylvania is investing in nursing education statewide.
Belfanti said the state's Nurse Education Initiative grants will leverage another $870,000 in private funding, which will allow nurse education and training programs to expand their class sizes and hire more instructors. The grants will also provide an incentive for health-care employers to lend qualified nurses as faculty members in nursing programs.
In this region, Belfanti said, the Geisinger Health System Foundation and the Central Workforce Investment Board will receive $46,134 in state funding, with a match of $47,576 in local private funding. The Central Workforce Investment Board serves Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, Mifflin, Snyder and Union counties.
"In the last six years, the number of people graduating from nursing programs in Pennsylvania has doubled," Belfanti said. "This is a direct result of the investments the legislature has made in these education and training programs, and in making nursing education more affordable and accessible. We are making a real dent in Pennsylvania's nursing shortage."
Belfanti said the Nurse Education Initiative grants are part of $2.5 million provided by the General Assembly in the state budget that is targeted at reducing the state's nursing shortage. More information about the grants and other efforts to increase Pennsylvania's skilled work force is available online at www.paworkforce.state.pa.us.
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