Community officials from Rochester, N.Y., said Thursday a program designed to provide healthcare jobs to low-income earners is making progress, according to a WXXI News report.
N.Y. Rep. Louis Slaughter (D) introduced the $1.6 million grant for the Health Professional Opportunity Grants program last year.
The program provides training for people in various healthcare positions, according to the report.
"Often these opportunities are in fields that are in high demand, or seeing a shortage of qualified employees including jobs in nursing, health IT and health administration just to name a few," said Rep. Slaughter, according to the report.
Donald Hardaway, director of Health Professional Opportunity Grants, says the program is designed to help those who are economically disadvantaged overcome barriers.
"Some of those barriers include things like unreliable transportation, inadequate living conditions, inconsistent healthcare [and] lack of education," he said, according to the report.
Currently, the program has 100 participants. The grant runs for five years, and officials expect to provide training and healthcare job opportunities to nearly 1,000 people by the time the program ends, according to the report.