The Education Fund Annual Report

We are pleased to share our latest Annual Report, highlighting a year of notable progress and celebration. Dive into several learner achievements, our Member2Member program, our growth over the past year, and the outcomes of our work with our participating union and employer partners. This report also marks the 25th anniversary of the Shirley Ware Education Center, showcases the support we’ve provided to SEIU Local 521 and SEIU Local 1021 members across California, shares the stories of Ed Fund members who transformed their careers with the help of our programs, and more.

Explore the report using the document viewer below, or download it in PDF format for a closer look.

 

Education Fund Executive Director speaks at Federal Reserve Webinar on Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment

In early August 2023, The Education Fund’s Executive Director, Rebecca Hanson, was a panelist in a webinar hosted by the Federal Reserve banks of Atlanta and Philadelphia, entitled “Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment.” The webinar focused on the dynamics associated with achieving maximum sustainable employment at a crucial time in our nation’s economy.

Due to the pandemic, the U.S. labor market has undergone profound shifts that we are only beginning to fully appreciate. Hanson spoke on how the Education Fund’s work helps healthcare employees create new employment opportunities for themselves, as well as helping them to earn higher wages and become more financially stable in such a difficult economic climate.

Watch Education Fund Executive Director Rebecca Hanson participate in the webinar “Shifting Perspectives and Expectations on Employment”.

Since 2021 the Education Fund has supported more than 20,000 healthcare workers per year with our training and education programs. We’ve seen a quadrupling of people interested in pursuing different certificate and degree programs, and a real desire to figure out a longer term, more sustainable job and wage.

In the webinar, Hanson shared that “We’ve been able to partner with our employers to assess that for those union members who utilize our programs, they have 50% lower turnover than those who don’t. And a 48% average wage increase for those progressing through skill and certificate training into higher wage jobs. So it has a pretty big impact, and it also impacts the diversity of the patient care workforce. 70% of those we train are workers of color and 80% are women”.

“We’re really focused on offering training for those in nonclinical moving into clinical roles where we see the sharpest shortages and biggest retention issues. We’re supporting degree and certificate programs for clinical roles, and we’re offering skill courses and continuing education that help with retention,” said Hanson.

Watch the video or read the transcript to learn more about how the Education Fund and other organizations are working towards fostering maximum employment.

 

The Education Fund works to help solve the healthcare staffing crisis

Recently the Education Fund’s Executive Director, Rebecca Hanson and Education Fund member, Teresa Harris spoke to the Portland Business Journal to share how our programs and services help our members move up in their careers while remaining with their employers. After Teresa experienced arthritis in her hands, leaving her unable to perform her work as a Dental Assistant at Kaiser Permanente, she took advantage of her Ed Fund benefits to go back to school. With the Ed Fund’s support – including support for tuition and books to earn an associate’s degree in computer information systems – Teresa was able to become a Medical Coder remaining with Kaiser Permanente.

Read the full story below, or view the PDF.

Employee Coaching and Education Benefits for Healthcare Workers Boosted Wages and Reduced Turnover

In collaboration with InsideTrack, the Education Fund is helping frontline healthcare workers access pathways to higher-wage jobs through an employee coaching and education benefits program

 

OAKLAND, CALIF. (November 21, 2022) — The Education Fund—a partnership between 20 healthcare industry employers and 6 SEIU local unions to provide education and training benefits for over 100,000 eligible healthcare workers— today announced the results of a new case study on the impact of employee coaching and education benefits. Education benefits — paired with one-on-one success coaching — helped allied health workers develop new skills and advance professionally into higher-wage career pathways, while also reducing staff turnover.

“At a time when talent is in critically short supply, investing in the education, development and success of our people is essential for ensuring the quality of patient care and building a highly-skilled, highly-qualified and engaged healthcare workforce,” said Rebecca Hanson, executive director of the Education Fund. “This is a unique example of how employers, organized labor and educators can work together to drive professional advancement opportunities for workers while also meeting the evolving health and employment needs of communities. It’s a win-win-win.”

Nationally, there are more than 5 million allied healthcare professionals, or approximately 60% of the entire healthcare workforce. Demand for credentialed allied health professionals continues to rise. An estimated 2.3 million allied health workers will be needed nationally by 2024. The Education Fund has for years worked to close these workforce gaps, improve patient care and build a stronger healthcare workforce by providing no-cost education, training and career advice to more than 100,000 eligible workers.

Since 2019, the organization has partnered with student success experts from InsideTrack to maximize educational opportunities for learners by providing them with one-on-one coaching and wraparound support they need to complete training programs. During that time, the Education Fund has seen significant improvements in outcomes with its largest employer partner, Kaiser Permanente. Between 2019 and 2021, graduates from its programs more than doubled, driving significant increases in the number of trained and diverse personnel ready to move into crucial healthcare positions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between September 2020 and December 2021, more than 2,050 eligible allied healthcare workers received one-on-one coaching from InsideTrack. Across all Education Fund programs, participants have seen their wages increase by an average of more than $15 per hour, and turnover among Education Fund learners was just 4% — one-fourth of the rate for all employees.

Most recently, the Education Fund tapped InsideTrack to provide coaching as part of a new Medical Assistant (MA) pathway program. Enrollment in the program surpassed its original goal by 140%, and 81% of the healthcare professionals who enrolled completed a certificate program in 2020-21 — setting hundreds of workers on a pathway to highly-skilled and higher-paying careers. According to the case study, 84% of MA participants said coaching helped to improve their overall experience in the program, manage time commitments and motivate them toward their goals.

“Attracting, retaining and developing our allied health workforce has a direct impact on real-world patient care and outcomes — and the ability of health systems to deliver cutting-edge care,” said Kai Drekmeier, co-founder and chief development officer at InsideTrack. “This collaboration is a powerful example of how the right education and training opportunities, coupled with personalized employee support, can help to meet the evolving needs of healthcare workers, employers and communities alike.”

For the second phase of this collaboration, the Education Fund will develop its own in-house employee coaching program with training and support from InsideTrack. Over the next three years, the Education Fund will develop a quality assurance program, create capacity to manage a coaching program and implement a “train-the-trainer” model to sustain the coaching program over time.

To read the entire case study from the Education Fund and InsideTrack, visit InsideTrack.org.

Learn more about the Education Fund’s partnership with Inside Track. – https://www.insidetrack.org/

About the SEIU-UHW West & Joint Employer Education Fund: The Education Fund is a labor management multi-employer training and education fund partnering with 20 healthcare employers and six SEIU local unions to serve 105,000 workers across California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico. Our mission is to empower the diverse healthcare workforce to advance in a changing environment through innovative education and training solutions. Our members are frontline caregivers, including respiratory care practitioners, dietary, environmental services and nursing staff who keep patients healthy, and clerical and support staff who keep medical facilities running smoothly. Our partners include some of the largest national healthcare employers and their unions.

About InsideTrack: InsideTrack is passionate about helping all learners achieve their education and career goals through the transformative power of coaching. Since 2001, we’ve served 2.9 million learners, partnering with more than 250 institutions and organizations to directly improve enrollment, persistence, completion and career readiness. Our coaching methodology is evidence-based and research-confirmed, with proven outcomes for every type of learner — from traditional to adult, part-time to full-time, online to in-person — including first-generation students and those who face systemic barriers to postsecondary success. We also work with partners to build internal coaching capacity through staff training and professional services — designed to sustain advances in-house for lasting, scalable impact. InsideTrack is a part of Strada Collaborative, a mission-driven nonprofit. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org. and follow us on Twitter @InsideTrack and LinkedIn @InsideTrack.

The Education Fund congratulates the first Pacific College LVN cohort class!

Education Fund staff members, Nial Egbun, Implementation Specialist, and Monica Lond-LeBlanc, Career Counselor recently attended the graduation of the first Pacific College LVN cohort class! Originally scheduled to start in early 2020, due to COVID-19 this cohort didn’t start until August 2020. This group of 10 learners experienced many challenges including online classes, participating in clinicals wearing full protective gear, and weekly COVID testing. They persevered through everything to achieve their goal of becoming LVNs. We know this group of dedicated individuals will be joined by many others thanks to our new LVN Pathway. Congratulations on your accomplishment!