DETROIT – August 31, 2010 – The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (www.cfsem.org) announced today that it has been chosen as one of nine foundations nationwide to receive funding from Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future (PIN).
PIN is a unique national initiative, which works with regional organizations to help find innovative ways to create a nursing workforce appropriate in size and equipped with the specific skills necessary to meet the changing demands of the 21st century patient population. The program provides assistance to local and regional philanthropies to act as catalysts in their own communities and develop strategies for creating and sustaining a viable nursing workforce.
Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, PIN is in its fifth year of providing support to local foundations and aims to discover models that work and can be replicated nationally. The Community Foundation has developed local partnerships with the Michigan Center for Nursing and Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Michigan to create solutions for addressing nursing workforce issues specific to nurse managers practicing in acute and long-term care facilities in southeast Michigan.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has been awarded a two-year grant of $125,000 to work in partnership with the Michigan Center for Nursing to create a leadership development program for nurse managers working in acute and long term care settings that focus on older adults. The grant will be matched by $125,000 in local and regional funding.
Carol Stacy, MSN, MA, Director of the Michigan Center for Nursing, explained that while the overall number of nurses nationwide is increasing, the supply side does not address the specific needs of the state.
“The health care needs of Michigan’s rapidly increasing older adult population has placed significant demand on the nursing workforce and especially on nurse managers working in acute and long term care settings in southeast Michigan,” said Stacy. “The project was developed to help nurse managers increase their ability to improve nurse work environments¾ a change that has been positively correlated with reducing nurse turnover, increased job satisfaction, and improved patient care outcomes.”
According to Mariam C. Noland, president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, “The project is an important investment in the health care workforce in our region. Nurse managers are on the front lines of caring for older adults in southeast Michigan, and we need to support them and the institutions that employ them with high quality education and training programs.”
The 2010 grant cycle marks the final competitive cycle of this $12 million investment by PIN. During the program’s first four years, 88 foundation partners in 32 states established more than 300 local partnerships among nursing organizations, private and public funders, and workforce development boards to address the nursing and nurse faculty shortage. The new partners will bring the total number of private philanthropic organizations contributing to the solutions to nearly 100, and expand the number of states represented to 37.
“We know that the overall number of nurses in the U.S. is growing, but there are many issues that need to be addressed in order to create the nursing workforce we need for the future,” said Judith Woodruff, J.D., director of workforce development at the Northwest Health Foundation and program director for Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future. “Investment by local philanthropy is essential for communities to come together to deal with challenges unique to their region or state.”
For more information about Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, visit www.partnersinnursing.org.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. www.rwjf.org.
Founded in 1997, Northwest Health Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that seeks to advance, support, and promote the health of the people of Oregon and southwest Washington. We achieve our mission through a variety of means, including grantmaking, technical assistance and training, convening, commissioning research, and supporting policy advocacy. See www.nwhf.org.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations committed to the future of southeast Michigan. The Foundation works to improve the region’s quality of life by connecting those who care with causes that matter. The Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed nearlymore than $43035 million through more than 367,0500 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.
