HPOG Grantees Share Strategies for Student Success

August 27, 2015
Smaller photo of students learning about patient care while observing a physician.

Photo of students learning about patient care while observing a physician.By Stan Koutstaal, HPOG Program Manager, Office of Family Assistance

Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) began five years ago and the original grant projects are now nearing completion. When I reflect on the progress of the grantees, I am struck by how much we have learned. There is a rigorous federal evaluation underway that will shed light on what kinds of program approaches work. In the meantime, grantees have been using program data to track progress and identify practices that seem promising. 

After reviewing program data, Alamo Community College District saw a need to improve their job placements. They trained their instructors to be more strongly involved in the process. The instructors oversaw externship placements, mentored student externs, and coordinated with job sites. Instructors then began to adapt classwork to better meet the needs of employers and build students’ job readiness skills. As a result, job placements have increased and so has employer satisfaction.

The Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Development Consortium saw a need to recruit more Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients. They created a TANF liaison position to build a stronger relationship with their local TANF agency and increase TANF enrollments. The TANF liaison had one-on-one contact with TANF staff, participated in community partner meetings, and provided informational sessions for TANF recipients at the TANF offices. The TANF liaison also tracked TANF recipients once in enrolled in the HPOG program. As a result the enrollment of TANF recipients increased. Looking ahead, the program envisions using a similar model to engage other community stakeholders.   

The Nursing Assistant/Patient Care Technician (NA/PCT) program is the most popular HPOG track at Pima County Community College . The program had high rates of completion but wanted to find ways of increasing those rates even higher. They used two new strategies to assist students. First, they required all students to attend a class to develop skills needed for college. Second, they offered a study hall once a week. As a result, more students are completing NA training, obtaining NA certification, and going on to complete PCT training.

These are just a few examples of strategies that our grantees have implemented to increase student success. To learn more about these and others, please visit our 2015 Compendium of Promising Practices (PDF).

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