In order to be fully transparent surrounding the grant agreement received by the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition, we wanted to share these FAQs with the public. If there are any additional questions, please reach out to Caitlin Greenwell, Director of Marketing & Communications by emailing her at cgreenwell@theceoc.com.
View the Louisville Business First exclusive, breaking the news of the grant agreement, by clicking this link.
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The Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition, convened by CEOC, is comprised of community organizations deeply ingrained within the Louisville community. Coalition members receiving funding include Amped, CEOC, Louisville Urban League, Metro United Way and the University of Louisville. Other Coalition members include Greater Louisville Inc., KentuckianaWorks and KIPDA.
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All deeply ingrained within the Louisville community, Coalition members receiving funding include Amped, CEOC, Louisville Metro Government, Louisville Urban League, Metro United Way and the University of Louisville. Other Coalition members include Greater Louisville Inc., KentuckianaWorks and KIPDA.
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The ARP funds were appropriated to the Coalition on Louisville Metro Government’s directive to fund critical initiatives that address workforce challenges, including creating an economic ecosystem that builds, supports and encourages under-resourced communities, workers and business owners.
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Yes, the Coalition will be issuing RFPs to those organizations focused on issues including but not limited to barrier removal for populations in Louisville.
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Our Innovation Center, which includes a speakeasy, was launched in 2021 to foster a collaborative environment for innovation. In addition to board meetings, the innovation center is used to host innovators, convene committees (such as our workforce committee), coalition partners and community partners, as well as for workforce training classes and as a space to mentor innovators and entrepreneurs. It has become a stop for economic development, when bringing in other organizations and cities, such as during city site selection tours and for other sectors interested in our model. We also bring together focus groups to get input from community members, not only for innovation, but for other important issues (e.g. how we can all work together as a community to solve for the major challenges we face, such as health inequities, and the negative impacts of social determinants of health).
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No ARP dollars or grant funds of any kind pay for the speakeasy or anything in it.
For any questions surrounding ARP funding, please see the grant contracts attached in the FAQ below.
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To see the three final grant agreements, please click the below links for downloadable PDF files:
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Health Career Lab (formerly known as the Center for Healthcare Workforce Innovation or CHeWI)
- Amount of grant agreement: $19,401,015.60
- Lead organization: CEOC
- Subrecipients: Metro United Way ($3 million), Louisville Urban League ($2 million) and the University of Louisville ($1,304,172.50)
Venture Studio and Data Hub
- Amount of grant agreement: $11,274,980.16
- Lead organization: CEOC
Russell Station Tech and Learning Center
- Amount of grant agreement: $9,319,308.00
- Lead organization: Amped
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$40 million in American Rescue Plan funds was awarded to the Coalition.
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CEOc and the Coalition have and will continue to work to ensure compliance in all aspects for the grant, including the lead recipient and all sub-recipients and contracts. The Coalition has consulted on a regular basis with Louisville Metro Government’s Office of Management and Budget and their internal and external compliance experts, as well as engaging a full-time compliance expert at CEOc. The great responsibility that comes with this grant is not lost on the Coalition, and this isn’t business as usual in relation to the impact this will have for the Louisville community. It is the group’s number one priority to make sure Louisville reaps the benefits of this effort.
Per the grant agreement, the Coalition must submit the following reports by the dates requested.
- Monthly narrative reports on the progress of the project, in addition to attendance at weekly project management meetings.
- Quarterly reports on progress toward meeting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Quarterly reports on construction progress and timeline.
- Annual Performance Report due each fiscal year of the subaward. Annual Performance Report must include all of the following:
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- Executive Summary
- Uses of Funds
- Equitable Outcomes Data
- Community Engagement Details
- Information on Labor Practices for all Infrastructure Projects
- Use of Evidence-Based Models and Practices
- Progress Toward Meeting Key Performance Indicators
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The American Rescue Plan funds were appropriated to the Coalition on Louisville Metro Government’s directive to fund critical initiatives that address workforce challenges, including creating an economic ecosystem that builds, supports and encourages under-resourced communities, workers and business owners.
In total, the Louisville Metro Government received $388 million in ARP money. This was awarded from the portion earmarked for workforce development.
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The Coalition applied for applied for American Rescue Plan funding via Louisville Metro Government in late 2021.
Learn more about the Metro ordinance from 2021 at this link.
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On Oct. 25, 2022, Metro Council members announced their sponsorship of an ordinance to allocate $40 million in American Rescue Plan funding as recommended by the Workforce Development workgroup. This was the sixth round of proposed ARP funding and was appropriated to the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition. This was voted on and passed on December 1, 2022. The coalition then began work with Louisville Metro Government’s Office of Management and Budget for the specifics and compliance for the grant.
The Coalition officially received its final grant agreement from Louisville Metro Government on March 30, 2023, with a grant agreement date of Jan. 1, 2023.
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CEOC, which represents the fifteen largest healthcare aging innovation companies founded or headquartered in Louisville, has formed a formidable coalition of diverse public and private community stakeholders who are committed to collectively transforming Greater Louisville’s economy into a national epicenter of healthcare and aging innovation. This coalition has equity at the core, recognizes the need for collaboration, and is dedicated to not only addressing the short-term crisis within Louisville’s healthcare workforce economy, but also for working in partnership to drive solutions at a systems level to address long standing equity issues that have stymied Louisville from realizing its full potential.
ARP funds will support these three strategic priorities:
- Executing a comprehensive, healthcare-focused workforce strategy that increases and diversifies the healthcare talent pipeline for jobs at all levels by mitigating barriers to training and employment.
- Increasing the region’s capacity to support high- growth startups, innovation, and IP commercialization for a stronger and more equitable health economy.
- Integrating and anchoring this activity through the development of a state-of-the art tech and learning center in Russell Station (forming a regional innovation corridor).
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The Coalition will realize the following outcomes during the grant duration:
- Recruit and fill 1,500 entry level healthcare jobs.
- Develop 10 healthcare career pathways, including education and training programs.
- Recruit and enroll 2,000 people in training aligned with healthcare career pathways.
- Implement a comprehensive PR campaign focused on identifying and attracting people to healthcare careers.
- Develop a venture studio to pilot, validate and scale seven paid entrepreneurial businesses focused on existing healthcare gaps. Complete 16 collaborative data projects utilizing the workforce instance of the Data Hub.
- Build a state-of-the art tech and learning center in the Russell Station neighborhood.
- Establish Louisville as the recognized national leader of healthcare workforce innovation and career pathway development.
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CEOC has created the Health Career Lab, a sustainable, strategic partnership between healthcare employers, higher education, workforce development and community partners to proactively recruit, train and retain the healthcare workforce of tomorrow. Spearheaded by the CEOC Workforce Innovation Committee, the Health Career Lab is harnessing the collective power of the 15 council member companies and developing equitable and innovative solutions focused on the following priorities:
- Talent pipeline: Increasing awareness, interest and access to healthcare careers for all.
- Education and training: Equipping people with the skills, experience and knowledge necessary to start or advance their career in healthcare.
- Work design: Renovating healthcare work structures, experiences and supports to retain diverse talent for optimal care.
- Ecosystem cultivation: Collaborating with others in the healthcare workforce ecosystem to minimize duplication, maximize impact and advance equity.
- Data and research: Informing decision makers and policy leaders through actionable data and research.
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Healthcare is our region’s largest employer sector. Louisville is facing a healthcare workforce crisis that is uniquely detrimental to our largest sector and is poised to only get worse, especially with the needs of an aging demographic. Healthcare jobs are expected to increase nearly four times the rate of all other jobs in the region.
All of this, compounded by increased costs from a COVID-fueled national wage market as well as a shift towards an aging nation, has created the perfect workforce storm with decreasing workforce, productivity, missed economic opportunity, leading toa true healthcare crisis.
Louisville has a rare opportunity to be in front as a national leader and equity centered solution model.
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The American Rescue Plan (ARP) mounted a national vaccination program and delivered immediate relief to American families during the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, the ARP supports communities that are struggling in the wake of the pandemic.
For example, the ARP distributed more than $360 billion in emergency funding for state, local, territorial and Tribal governments to ensure that they are in a position to keep front line public workers on the job and paid, while also effectively distributing the vaccine, scaling testing, reopening schools and maintaining other vital services. State and local employment has fallen by around 1.4 million jobs since the pandemic began including layoffs of 1 million educators, compared to around 750,000 job losses during the Great Recession.
Learn more about the ARP from the White House at this link.
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On May 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments. View the U.S. Department of Treasury’s facts sheets, references and other information at this link.
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Amped
- “Amped is excited to construct a state-of-the art tech and learning center in our Russell Station neighborhood,” said Dave Christopher, Sr., Executive Director and Founder of Amped. “This is a unique opportunity to create a sustainable model to address the health and financial inequities that we face in the city of Louisville. Working together, we are addressing the challenges we face with healthcare workforce shortages, the strain on providers and caregivers, and inequity by providing solutions to stop the widening of the health disparity gap that these challenges cause and if left unchecked will only get worse.”
Louisville Urban League
- “This Coalition strategically unites some of our region’s strongest and most diversified providers to ensure that equity is at the forefront of solving healthcare workforce challenges that literally impact every person in our community,” said Lisa Thompson, Chief Impact Officer at Louisville Urban League.
Metro United Way
- “I am excited to be a part of the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition because we are creating equitable pathways for local residents that will strengthen our healthcare system and the lives of those who provide our care,” said John Nevitt, Director of Economic Mobility at Metro United Way.
Greater Louisville Inc.
- “Healthcare and aging innovation are two of our region’s fastest-growing industries, so it is critical we invest the resources needed for both sectors to thrive into the future,” said Christine Tarquinio, Vice President, Talent, Workforce & Brand Strategies at Greater Louisville Inc. “The Coalition will work closely with businesses in our regional healthcare ecosystem to keep Louisville as a national leader in these industries and ensure we maintain a workforce to support rapidly innovating and evolving careers.”
University of Louisville
- “The UofL Digital Transformation Center will provide senior workforce instructors, success coaches, reusable curriculum and materials, and a resource community portal to ‘train the trainers,’” said Dr. Sharon Kerrick, Assistant Vice President, Digital Transformation Center at UofL. “This will create a group of trainers that can deliver online or face-to-face upskill and reskill technology courses. Throughout the workforce training, the trainers will earn a workforce training certificate as well as technology vendor credentials from companies such as Microsoft, Google, and IBM. It’s exciting to be part of such a wide scale effort to increase our community’s talents and skillsets, particularly in the arena of health tech and technologies such as analytics. The ‘train the trainer’ concept and the network of resources will enable districts and communities to conduct their own trainings in the future and continue to build and grow the workforce.”
KIPDA
- “The transformative work of the Coalition will move the needle by providing newfound opportunities for community members while addressing the changing needs of employers,” said Jarrett Haley, Executive Director at KIPDA. “The Coalition is driven by decision makers that seek to best position the Louisville region to capitalize on opportunities in the evolving economic landscape.”
KentuckianaWorks
- “Louisville has never had 15 CEOs come together to solve a major workforce challenge and to commit to doing so with an equity focus as a major part of that effort,” said Michael Gritton, Executive Director at KentuckianaWorks. “Louisville has also never had the resources needed to lean in to such a challenge. The workforce effort being spearheaded by CEOC brings together all those elements – resources, CEO leadership, and an equity focus. It has the chance to be a transformational moment for Louisville, and we are committed to helping the effort succeed.”