Workforce Initiative

The Recovery Workforce Training Program (RWTP) is a Community Development Block Grant-funded project administered through the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

These particular Community Development Block Grant funds are being used for demand-driven, sector-based workforce training programs that include comprehensive strategies for recruiting, training, hiring, and retaining a skilled and productive workforce specific to the immediate needs of the hurricane-impacted regions and recovery-critical sectors – Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Cultural Economy, Healthcare, Oil and Gas, Transportation.

LPHI was awarded $2 million in 2007 through the RWTP to increase the skill level, employment opportunities and retention of the frontline healthcare workforce within hurricane impacted parishes. LPHI, through its relationships with the Health Services Recovery Council, the Behavioral Health Action Network (BHAN) and the Partnership for Access to Healthcare (PATH), is developing a robust response to the allied healthcare training, recruitment and retention needs of Katrina and Rita-affected parishes.

The projects four objectives are:

• To provide workforce recruitment and retention technical assistance tailored to the needs of Katrina and Rita impacted parishes

• To provide financial support for direct and indirect cost of training of existing frontline workers in the devastated area and displaced residents willing to return

• To build upon new strategic partnerships created among educational and healthcare organizations

• To create a long term training program with ongoing support of program enrollees, retention, training and continued focus on sustainability

The project is being implemented in Cameron, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany Parishes and is targeting the front-line, healthcare workforce, categorized as healthcare employees earning less than $40,000 and positions requiring a bachelors degree or below. Target occupations include emergency medical technicians, geriatric nurses, certified nursing assistants, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed social workers, licensed practical nurses, substance abuse counselors and technicians (laboratory, psychiatric, radiology).

Core Project Components:

1. Technical Assistance, Recruitment and Retention – Coordinated assistance is being provided by extending the scope of existing non-profit recruitment and retention efforts available through the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health. The project will build upon the foundation and expand the scope of Bureau activities currently limited to physicians and programs for registered nurses. Project recruitment and retention staff dedicated to allied healthcare positions have been added to the Bureau to expand and build upon the knowledge of existing medical placement staff, recruitment software and developed partnerships.

Assistance provided through the Bureau includes organizational capacity building, job/training recruitment, placement and retention of healthcare frontline workforce. Recruitment strategies also coordinate project training opportunities with outside resources, such as housing initiatives and loan repayments.

2. Financial Support for Employee Training – 12 employers throughout the affected parishes have received funding to assist more than 100 employees with training in allied health fields, thereby building the capacity of the organization to provide quality care, and also providing the individual with valuable skills and increased earning potential.

3. Free CNA Training offered through the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

For more information regarding the RWTP please contact Kara Wayman at kwayman@lphi.org