What Works in Healthcare Career and Technical Education: Hospital-Education Partnerships

As part of a new Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative, the Project on Workforce is researching the impact of healthcare-focused high schools on students' economic futures and healthcare talent shortages in communities across the country.

Background

Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched a $250 million initiative to create new high schools that, in partnership with a local health system and post-secondary partners, will graduate students directly into high-demand healthcare jobs with family-sustaining wages. This first-of-its-kind initiative pairs education and hospital systems in communities across the U.S. to develop career and technical education pathways in high-demand healthcare fields. Participating regions include Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Dallas, TX; Durham, NC; Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and St. Louis, MO, and the rural areas of Central Georgia; Demopolis, AL; and Northeast TN.

Project Overview

The Project on Workforce is leading the multi-year evaluation effort for the Bloomberg Philanthropies' CTE Healthcare Initiative to understand "what works" in improving students’ education and economic outcomes and addressing healthcare workforce shortages. We will be collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative student, school, and hospital data and documenting key learnings in annual research reports for high schools, colleges, hospitals, and policymakers across the United States.

Publications

Our recent report, The Boston Case Study, provides an in-depth look at a healthcare-focused high school partnership in Boston, examining cross-sector collaboration, student recruitment, and the development of career pathways and curriculum.

Summer Fellowship

We are currently hiring summer research fellows. Applications are due Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Learn more about the role and the application on our Join Us page. 

Read about our Summer 2025 Fellows here. 

Project Team

• Primary Investigator: Joseph Fuller

• Directors: Kerry McKittrick and Nathalie Gazzaneo

• Lead Evaluator: Matt Snodgrass

• Project Manager: Ariel Higuchi

• Research Fellow: Nathania Silalahi

• Research Fellow: Ignacio Urrea Bordones