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Grant Will Provide Transformative Career Opportunities

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Grant Will Provide Transformative Career Opportunities
A new partnership between CHOP and a local high school aims to lift families out of poverty.
September 24, 2024
Grant Will Provide Transformative Career Opportunities

A new initiative, supported by a generous five-year, $19.6 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, has the potential to be life-changing for Philadelphia students and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Mastery Hardy Williams High School, in Southwest Philly, will become a healthcare career school, and CHOP will welcome as many as 100 qualified high school graduates per year — students it has trained — into jobs with family-sustaining salaries.

“If our students are able to meet the rigorous demands year over year and do what they need to do to get the credentials, we could see families overcome generational poverty,” says Yvette Núñez, Chief of Staff for Mastery Charter Network, who along with Chief Equity Officer Saliyah Cruz, led Mastery’s effort to secure the grant. “Dr. Cruz and I got watery-eyed thinking about it. That’s how important this opportunity is for families in our community.”

Bloomberg Philanthropies’ aim was to pair hospitals with high schools to meet the growing demand for healthcare workers and to address the relatively high unemployment rates for young adults. When Meridith Egan and Dana Raftas of the CHOP Foundation shared the prospective grant with Alonzo South, Assistant Vice President of Community Impact, they all knew it would be a great fit for CHOP. The hospital has long been dedicated to improving the health and wellness of families in the community, and its role as an employer is an essential part of this commitment.

South reached out to Núñez, whom he had met at a community event, to gauge Mastery’s interest. She looped in Cruz, and they quickly began exploring the possibilities. They landed on Hardy Williams High as the best option among Mastery’s eight secondary schools because of its dedicated and tenured principal, Justin Meltzer, proximity to CHOP’s Philadelphia campus and educational strategy.

Collaboration created winning application

South and Joanne McCool, CHOP’s Vice President of Human Resources, collaborated with Mastery to create a robust program that would meet Bloomberg’s criteria, align with Mastery’s vision for Hardy High, and advance CHOP’s workforce and community development strategies. 

The CHOP-Mastery application was one of 10 chosen for the nationwide program. "Our partnership with CHOP and Mastery Schools is a great example of a true public-private partnership that will create sustainable, long-term solutions that address gaps in education and workforce development," says Jenny Kane, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies' healthcare portfolio.

While students may immediately think of patient-facing positions as potential healthcare careers, CHOP has thousands of nonclinical roles — supply chain, finance and information systems, to name a few — that keep the place humming. Students not interested in clinical care can select the hospital operations or healthcare administration tracks. Núñez calls it a “lattice of opportunities across the CHOP network.”

Graduates will fill crucial positions

At any given time, CHOP has as many as 500 open positions across the hospital’s more than 3,000 job titles. Some, like doctors, accountants and scientists, require advanced education; however, about 900 roles need a high school diploma along with an industry certification. 

During students’ freshman and sophomore years, as they take typical core courses, they will learn about the full range of jobs at CHOP when employees give presentations at the school and during tours of hospital facilities. “An emphasis of this program is discovery,” says McCool. 

Junior year will include more time on CHOP campuses, shadowing different employees, and more electives geared to their chosen career path. Seniors will participate in paid internships at CHOP. 

Hardy Williams students will graduate with relevant skills and experience, deep CHOP relationships, and a valuable certification that will position them for a variety of full-time jobs, with benefits, at CHOP. One of those benefits is tuition reimbursement for those who pursue additional education. There will also be job coaching and additional training, so students can shift roles within CHOP as their interests change. 

Committed to ongoing success

“CHOP sees this as an entry point with no end point for the students,” McCool says. “We have made an ongoing commitment to the students’ success as they move within the hospital — both laterally and up — into roles they want.”

To further ensure students’ success, CHOP and Hardy Williams will partner on expanded mental health support and a new sexual health clinic at the school. “Our hope is these supports will address the barriers that sometimes get in the way of the best laid plans,” Cruz says.

The 2024-25 school year is for planning and piloting, including building out spaces at Hardy Williams to accommodate STEM classes and developing elective courses to support the three tracks. The full program begins in fall 2025.

“This is a fire we have started,” Núñez says, “and I think the magic will be in how we tend the fire over the next five years and beyond.”

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