Future Ready Oregon Healthcare Industry Consortium Will Address Workforce Gaps and Opportunities
Salem, OR – The Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) is pleased to announce the convening of the Healthcare Industry Consortium. Established by Senate Bill 1545 (2022), also known as Future Ready Oregon, the Consortium will develop strategic policy and funding recommendations to advance a more equitable workforce system, addressing gaps and seizing opportunities to grow and diversify Oregon’s healthcare workforce.
The Healthcare Industry Consortium met for the first time in spring 2023, and kicked off its work by hearing from the Oregon Employment Department, Oregon Health Authority, and the Oregon Longitudinal Data Collaborative. This information about Oregon’s healthcare workforce landscape, employer needs, and equity in recruitment, retention, and career advancement strategies will inform the Consortium’s work going forward. The Consortium will meet quarterly, and meetings are open to the public.
“The HECC is excited to be launching and providing leadership to Industry Consortia as a critical element of Future Ready Oregon implementation,” said Jennifer Purcell, director of Future Ready Oregon at the HECC. “This Healthcare Industry Consortium is uniquely designed to build partnerships that more deeply engage employers, labor and industry representatives, education and training providers, and community-based organizations in co-creating solutions to advance equitable opportunities that address sector-specific workforce challenges.”
The Healthcare Industry Consortium is specifically tasked with informing the HECC’s Future Ready Oregon grant opportunities, as well as developing recommendations and co-creating a strategic policy and funding framework for Oregon’s healthcare workforce ecosystem.
Future Ready Oregon is a $200 million package of investments that advances an equitable workforce system by supporting the education, training, and resources needed to access good-paying jobs, and includes the establishment of three Industry Consortia. The Consortia provide forums through which industry, education, and community partners can develop recruitment, retention, and career advancement strategies to expand and diversify the workforce in key sectors of Oregon’s economy—healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. Members are charged with identifying ways industry can innovate, implement, and co-invest in workforce and talent development strategies that center economic mobility and the needs of historically marginalized and underserved communities.
The Consortium is chaired by Marin Arreola, president of Advanced Economic Solutions Inc. and member of the Governor’s Racial Justice Council; Dr. Adrien Bennings, president of Portland Community College and member of the State Workforce and Talent Development Board; Janet Campbell, president of Oregon Health Leadership Council; and Melissa Unger, executive director of SEIU Local 503. Membership includes representatives from education, industry, labor, and community-based organizations, as well as local workforce development boards, workforce training providers, economic development partners, and members of the Governor’s Racial Justice Council and the State Workforce and Talent Development Board.
The next meeting will be September 14th, with all details forthcoming on the HECC website. For more information, contact FutureReadyOregon@hecc.oregon.gov.
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