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Historias y noticias
Dinero
Since 2022, Health Forward Foundation has invested in the health sciences workforce as a core strategy to improve access, quality, outcomes, and economic opportunity across our region. Early investments focused on education, training, and capacity building within health care, grounded in the belief that a strong, representative workforce is essential to community health.
Over time, this work has become more intentional and focused. As workforce shortages intensified and inequities became increasingly visible across rural and urban communities, Health Forward sharpened its strategy to increase diversity, representation, and opportunity within the health sciences workforce. This evolution reflects both research and lived experience, demonstrating that health outcomes improve when people receive care from providers who understand their communities, cultures, and realities.
Health Forward’s approach to health sciences workforce investment is intentionally sequenced to expand access, inform strategy, strengthen systems, and drive long-term alignment.
Over the past several years, Health Forward has invested approximately $3.8 million in organizations supporting individuals across health sciences workforce pathways. These investments have emphasized tuition assistance, credentialing for adult learners, mentorship, leadership development, and career exploration all aimed at supporting entry, advancement, and retention within health care careers.
This work has prioritized expanding equitable access to health sciences careers for individuals from Black, Latino, immigrant, and rural communities, while strengthening the workforce needed to serve the region.
Recognizing the need for coordinated action and a shared understanding of challenges, Health Forward commissioned a comprehensive regional health sciences workforce landscape assessment conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. The assessment examined supply, demand, representation, and structural barriers across the region’s health care workforce.
The findings clarified both urgency and focus. Workforce shortages are most acute in safety-net settings and rural communities, and disparities in representation persist across key clinical roles. Based on this analysis, Health Forward refined its strategy to prioritize rural workforce, physicians, nurses, and licensed mental health professionals as critical drivers of equitable health outcomes.
The assessment now serves as a foundational tool guiding investment, alignment, and regional collaboration.
Executive Summary
Final Report
Building on the assessment findings, Health Forward made a significant infrastructure investment in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), anchors of care for our communities of focus – people of color and rural communities. FQHCs play a vital role not only in delivering high-quality care, but also as training environments, employers, and stabilizing forces for communities and the health sciences workforce.
In 2026, Health Forward is committing approximately $7 million to strengthen recruitment, retention, and system capacity strengthening across urban and rural FQHCs in the Kansas City region. This investment recognizes that workforce sustainability depends on strong organizational infrastructure, modern technology, and the ability to support clinicians over time through competitive and supportive environments.
Health Forward is advancing a collective impact approach to health sciences workforce development. This work focuses on aligning educational systems, health care delivery organizations, philanthropy, and public and governmental partners to improve coordination, reduce fragmentation, maximize resources, and scale effective strategies.
An upcoming funding opportunity to support this work will be announced in the future.
Health Forward’s health sciences workforce investments reflect a clear and deliberate throughline: stronger health outcomes and opportunities for lucrative careers are built through people, supported by systems, and sustained through collaboration.
The health sciences workforce assessment serves as an entry point to a broader body of work and positions Health Forward to continue leading efforts to build a workforce that reflects and effectively serves our communities.
