Albany Business Review: Health care training program enrolls over 1,000 students, aims to fill workforce gaps
The following article, written by Angel Godfrey, was published on the Albany Business Review’s website on July 22, 2025.
A statewide nonprofit that offers fully funded education and career support for health care professionals has seen significant growth over the past five years.
The Caring Gene® Career Pathways Training (CPT) Program has now enrolled more than 1,000 students in the Capital Region.
The program, administered by the Iroquois Healthcare Association, covers tuition and books in 13 approved health, behavioral health and social care career fields. It’s mainly for people who are not currently enrolled in a degree program.
“The high interest in the program is the fact that it is accessible to students at all income levels,” Executive Director Tosha Grimmer said. “We’re not just a program for those that are in financial need, but also for students who may be just going into the health care workforce who do have some economic means and don’t need as much scholarship money. We can support them and then get them into the health care workforce with the support of the job placement as the end of their academic program.”
The CPT Program started in 2018 and is now funded through the state Department of Health as a workforce recruitment and retention program. Its goal is to place students with a health care provider that serves a population in which 30% or more of the people are covered by Medicaid. Students must commit to three years of employment with a qualifying provider in New York.
“This is just the beginning,” said Kevin M. Kerwin, president and CEO of Iroquois Healthcare Association, in a prepared statement. “The interest we’re seeing from students, educators, and health care employers across the state speaks volumes. It’s clear that when we invest in accessible education and training, we create real career pathways that can make lasting progress in solving workforce challenges and improving care for communities throughout New York.”
The CPT Program partners with several types of organizations across the state for training and to identify eligible students.
“The program did not exist five years ago, so this is very much like a startup organization. We’re really about making partnerships between educational institutions—Capital Region BOCES, Maria College, University at Albany, Russell Sage College, Hudson Valley Community College—and then supporting their students and getting them into the health care workforce,” Grimmer said.
The Caring Gene® Career Pathways Training Program covers 30 counties across upstate New York. There is another group that covers western New York and one that covers south of Ulster and Dutchess counties into New York City and Long Island.