What We Do
Creating opportunity and equity for our healthcare workforce community
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Multi-Employer Training and Education Fund is a nonprofit, labor-management partnership between seventeen hospital employers across eight healthcare systems and the largest healthcare union in Washington State.
Established in 2008, the Training Fund was created to develop a statewide program for addressing the workforce needs of participating employers and to support the career, knowledge, and skill aspirations of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members. It is a ground-breaking enterprise designed to leverage the healthcare industry’s greatest strengths – its people and its institutions – to collectively keep pace with this rapidly changing, ever expanding and highly complex industry.
Over 19,000 Washington State healthcare workers are currently eligible for Training Fund education benefits. As a Labor/Management Taft-Hartley Trust which is funded by collectively-bargained employer contributions, we are able to provide services and benefits at no cost to eligible members. Benefits include funding for Professional Development activities, a Tuition Assistance program to cover college and university enrollment costs, and a wide variety of educational support services.
The multi-employer, labor-management partnership model allows the Training Fund to attract significant grant dollars to expand services for its members and the broader community. The Training Fund has received funding through multiple federal, state, and private grants, including over $10 million in grant funding since 2020. We truly appreciate this important support from our funding partners.
From policy work to training projects to education-system reform, the Training Fund has made a significant impact on the current and future direction of Washington’s healthcare workforce system.
The Training Fund’s Work
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- Offer direct education and training benefits.
- Provide extensive support services to increase member success and therefore ‘return on investment.’
- Influence the education system as a large. labor/management partnership to meet our collective goals.
- Pursue external funding to expand services and leverage employer financial contributions.
Celebrating 15 years of work!
We are incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished over the last 15 years and look forward to how we will continue to grow to better support the healthcare workforce community.
The Training Fund’s accomplishments include:
- Supporting more than 1,500 healthcare workers annually with Career Counseling services since 2018
- More than $23.8 million awarded in federal, state, and private grants
- Six Washington State-registered Healthcare Apprenticeships (spanning medical/pharmacy & behavioral health pathways)
- 106 pre-apprenticeship program participants since 2021
- Career Connect Washington‘s Healthcare Sector Leader
- 167 certified Nursing Assistants have completed our NA-C training program since 2021
- 408 members have used Tuition Assistance to advance their careers and education in 2023 alone — 63% of them identify as BIPOC
