In ACTE’s SmartBrief Education, Courtney Guidry, Director of Work-Based Learning at the New Orleans Career Center (NOCC), outlines how innovative workforce pipelines can help address the nation’s healthcare staffing crisis. With growing shortages of nurses, medical assistants, and patient care technicians, NOCC, in partnership with NHA, has developed a sustainable model that connects high school students and adults to careers in allied health. In 2023 alone, more than 160 trainees earned industry-recognized NHA certifications, helping local providers fill critical staffing gaps.

This piece highlights key strategies for replicating success: meeting students where they are with strong instructional tools, creating hands-on work-based learning through job shadowing and clinical placements, fostering peer networks, and ensuring instructors have resources for skills-based education. The author also emphasizes the importance of nationally recognized credentials, which 83% of employers prefer, as well as responsive employer partnerships that align training with real-world practice. Read the full article here.