CT SHIP Expands Pool of Healthcare Talent

NEW HAVEN, CT - A federal Department of Labor grant-funded program has helped hundreds of healthcare students receive free training at CT State Gateway and will be available through the end of December.

The CT Statewide Healthcare Industry Pathways (CT SHIP) is a grant program to help workers reskill and become immediately employable with industry-recognized credentials. If a student is not considered eligible for scholarship assistance at CT State Gateway under other program guidelines, they can apply for the grant, which takes total household income into account.

Five Connecticut community colleges, led by CT State Norwalk, received a $3.4 million Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant from the United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The grant funded CT SHIP, which is aimed to expand the colleges' capacity to deliver accelerated training in high-demand healthcare career pathways. The program is specifically designed to assist new entrants to the workplace, dislocated workers, incumbent workers, and veterans. In addition to covering tuition for non-credit students pursuing the healthcare field, CT SHIP has also helped to pay for equipment, including a new hospital bed for students to use in the classroom.

At CT State Gateway, students in the CT SHIP program have completed certificates to become Certified Nurse Aides (C.N.A.), Central Sterile Processing Technicians, Medical Office Assistants, and Patient Care Technicians. The grant has also benefited students studying for an Associate of Science degree in Surgical Technology.

Clarenisha Johnson of New Haven and Gift Ibemgbo, who recently moved to Connecticut from Nigeria, are now enrolled in the New Haven C.N.A. program and will complete a week of clinical experience at the end of August. They are just two of 270 C.N.A. students to benefit from the tuition assistance. An additional 345 students have benefitted from CT State Gateway’s other CT SHIP approved programs.

Clarenisha and Gift expressed how grateful they are for the support they received for enabling them to consider becoming CNAs. Clarenisha worked in a security position for six years at a rehabilitation center and decided to become a C.N.A., the first step on her path to eventually becoming a registered nurse. She said caregiving seemed interesting, offers a better income, and her newfound knowledge would allow her to help her family. She said the $2,000 certification course would have otherwise been out of reach.

Gift completed a Master of Commerce degree in India and moved to the United States with her family. Her caregiving experience was limited to helping her grandmother, yet she enjoyed the work and decided to pursue the medical field even if embarking on a healthcare career was like “starting from scratch.” Gift said it did not take long after applying until she found out she received the grant.

“I was so happy. It was a big relief,” she said, adding that without the grant she would be unable to pursue any more education at this point.

For more information about how to apply for the CT SHIP grant, please call (203) 285-2300 or email GW-Workforce@ctstate.edu.