The University of Michigan-Flint has received about $2.1 million for nursing programs aimed at minority group members from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The university says the funds come from the federal department's Health Resources and Services Administration.
The University of Flint news website reports, Project Director Linda Knecht, assistant professor of nursing (with co-director Margaret Andrews, Ph.D., director of the UM-Flint Department of Nursing) was awarded the $1.2 million to continue the highly successful UM-Flint Initiatives for Nursing Diversity (UM-FIND) project for the next three years. The project will increase nursing education opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds (including racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented in nursing). UM-FIND will address the nursing workforce shortage by providing recruitment, structured pre-entry preparation, comprehensive retention services, and/or student stipend and scholarships for high school, university pre-nursing, Associate degree nurses (ADN) in the RN/BSN program, and matriculated BSN students.
"1.2 million of those dollars were designated for UM-Flint and that is to help undergraduate students help increase their level of diversity as well as their cultural competence in the Flint nursing workforce," says Jeneen Hinkle, a registered nurse from UM-Flint's nursing program.
The school also is getting $700,000 to continue a project to educate nurses about health disparities and the needs of medically underserved populations.
The nursing program is also getting $221,000 for scholarships for disadvantaged students.
