The School of Nursing at Fresno State has partnered with the nursing program at Fresno City College on the Nurse Pipeline Extension Project, a collaborative effort to increase health care professionals in the San Joaquin Valley.
Congressman Jim Costa recently secured federal funding of $475,000 to help both institutions expand their programs and create opportunities for nursing students, particularly first-generation students of color, to achieve advanced degrees in nursing.
The funding is part of over $11 million in community project federal funds Costa received, which will fund 10 projects that respond directly to some of the most pressing needs in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties.
“These projects support underserved areas and foster economic development, providing more opportunities for folks to get ahead,” said Costa, who hopes to help address the nursing shortage in the Valley.
Through the project, students obtaining their associate degree in nursing at Fresno City College will be able to earn their bachelor of science in nursing degree from Fresno State in approximately three years, and later proceed into the University’s nurse practitioner master’s degree program. This will be a dual enrollment program designed to simplify the process of achieving a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
With the funding, the goal is to accept and graduate 75 new bachelor of science nursing students and five to 10 nursing master’s students annually.
“The partnership between our nursing education programs at Fresno City College and Fresno State is one way we are responding to the shortage of BSN nurses within central California,” said Dr. Sylvia Miller, chair of the Fresno State School of Nursing. “The concurrent collaborative partnership promotes a seamless academic progression for completion of a BSN, while also bridging the gap between ADN and BSN programs. This will significantly reduce barriers to degree completion for our students.”
