Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Five Annual Report (2019–20)

Publication Date: October 22, 2021
Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0 Year Five Annual Report (2019–20) October Update cover image

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  • Pages: 73
  • Published: 2021

Introduction

Research Questions

  1. Who participated in HPOG 2.0 in the first five years?
  2. What are HPOG 2.0 participants’ training, career progress, and employment outcomes by the end of Year 5?
  3. What skill development and support services do HPOG 2.0 grantees provide to participants and how many participants receive these services?

This Year 5 Annual Report describes results for participants in the second round of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program from the beginning of the Program through the end of Year 5 (September 30, 2015 through September 29, 2020). HPOG grants are awarded to organizations that provide education and training to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other low-income adults for occupations in the healthcare field that pay well and are expected to either experience labor shortages or be in high demand. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a first round of five-year HPOG grants (“HPOG 1.0”) in 2010.

This current, second round of grants (“HPOG 2.0”) was awarded to carry out five-year programs starting in September 2015 and has since been extended an additional 12 months, ending September 2021. Grant funds are disbursed annually to 32 grantees in 21 states, including five Tribal organizations. From the beginning of HPOG 2.0 through the end of Year 5 (September 30, 2015 to September 29, 2020), grantees enrolled 34,853 participants.

Note: This report was originally released in July 2021. Errors in reporting were identified after publication. These errors were corrected and the report reissued in October 2021. Corrections are indicated in footnotes throughout the report.

Purpose

The purpose of this Year 5 Annual Report is to summarize the status of the HPOG 2.0 Program participants’ activities, outcomes, and characteristics from the start of the Program on September 30, 2015 through September 29, 2020, the end of grant Year 5. This report builds on four prior annual reports. It also updates information on participants’ career pathway progress as of the end of Year 5.

Key Findings and Highlights

Key findings from the HPOG 2.0 Year 5 Annual Report include:

  • As in earlier years, participants in HPOG 2.0 are mainly single, female, and have dependent children. Nineteen (19) percent were receiving TANF benefits at enrollment. One third had some college education, already had a professional license or certification, or were in school at the time of enrollment in the program.
  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in March 2020, enrollment in HPOG 2.0 and the number of participants starting new healthcare training dropped sharply, as did receipt of supports.
  • Of the 26,651 participants who began healthcare training in the first five years of HPOG 2.0, 89 percent had completed it at the end of Year 5 (or were still engaged in it). More than two thirds (68 percent) of participants who completed healthcare training went on to earn a professional license or certification, and 67 percent started a job or were promoted on an existing job in healthcare.
  • More than one third (38 percent) of all participants engaged in standalone basic skills training (not combined with healthcare training); of those, 91 percent had completed or were still engaged in it at the end of Year 5. Of those who completed, most (81 percent) subsequently enrolled in healthcare training.
  • Of participants who began healthcare training in the first five years of HPOG 2.0, almost half (45 percent) made career progress in training (beyond completing an entry-level training). This includes: completing a healthcare training and moving on to a healthcare training at a higher career pathway level; completing multiple trainings at the same career pathway level to combine skills; completing a mid- or high-level career pathway healthcare training; or completing basic skills training or prerequisites and moving on to healthcare training.
  • Using a set of metrics that combine multiple ways individuals can make career progress (including basic skills or prerequisites completion, healthcare training completion, and employment), 60 percent of HPOG 2.0 participants showed overall career progress by the end of Year 5, and another 8 percent were engaged in activities toward career progress.
  • HPOG 2.0 participants engaged in a variety of activities and received a variety of supportive services. For example, almost half (46 percent) engaged in skill-development activities and almost half received transportation assistance. HPOG 2.0 funded tuition in whole or in part for most (83 percent) of participants’ healthcare trainings.

Methods

The data in this report come from the HPOG 2.0 Participant Accomplishment and Grant Evaluation System (PAGES), a participant tracking and management system that includes data on participant characteristics, engagement in programs, and training and employment outcomes. PAGES also includes information on the activities and supports grantee programs offer. Grantee program staff enter data in PAGES. The grantees each submit semi-annual and annual Performance Progress Reports (PPRs) to ACF using data entered into PAGES; the PPR data are also used for this annual report.

Citation

Nathan Sick and Pamela Loprest (2021). Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Five Annual Report (2019—20), OPRE Report 2021-100. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.