The commitment of the Institute goes beyond training. Indeed, graduates of the Institute will be guaranteed employment at Abbott Northwestern, Children's or Hennepin County Medical Center. The idea is to strengthen the educational and economic capacity of area residents who might not otherwise have an opportunity to enroll in a career track. It makes sense for many reasons. First, there is a growing body of research connecting employment and health status.
Research shows that every step up the occupational ladder has positive health consequences.
With tuition assistance, scholarships, and English as a second language built into the program, our goal is recruit at least half of the students from areas of concentrated poverty and higher rates of unemployment such as Phillips. In doing so, we expect to enhance the economic vitality of the neighborhood for families who live there-and thus their health status. Second, as you might have heard from Commissioner Malcolm earlier today, there is a great need for more health care workers from minority communities. Less than 2 percent of Minnesota's nurses and less than 1 percent of Minnesota's physicians are persons of color. And yet there are thousands of job openings everyday in Minnesota's health systems.