Career Connect Washington: Healthcare Sector Leader

Career Connect Washington (CCW) is a broad coalition of business, labor, education, and community leaders to create work-based and academic programs for young people to explore, learn, and earn money or college-level credit. These programs aim to help WA youth become career-ready and also provide resources to meet WA workforce needs:

• Career Explore: Students (ages 5 – 30) learn how their interests can lead to different jobs in different fields.  
• Career Prep: Hands-on programs (e.g., pre-apprenticeships and internships) help students (ages 13 – 30) gain professional experience toward their education or training. 
• Career Launch: A focused career-connected learning program that combines paid work experiences – like apprenticeships – with classroom learning, and enabled students (ages 17-30) to receive credentials and become competitive job candidates.  

CCW aims to ensure that 60% of young adults beginning in the class of 2030 will participate in a Career Launch program. 

The Training Fund will research and gather statewide information about existing healthcare programs, help healthcare employers identify needs and facilitate connections with workforce development opportunities, and help young adults explore healthcare education and career pathways. 

This includes facilitating resources that: (a) help students explore and access high-quality career-connected healthcare learning programs; and (b) enable industry, education, and labor partners to provide innovative healthcare education and career pathways for young people. 

Through facilitation and leadership, the Healthcare Leaderwill: 

• Serve as the main point of contact between state, regional CCW teams, labor, and employers 
• Conduct an industry needs analysis to provide a scalable strategy for current and future healthcare workforce needs 
• Support CCW goals for Career Launch, Career Prep & Career Explore programs 
• Convene employers and CCW partners 

• Gather qualitative data through interviews and meetings to create a shared understanding of needs, challenges, and success 
• Promote CCW Career Launch programs: 

• Identify partners and industry best practices to scale at the strategic state level 
• Identify gaps or needs, and develop recommendations to support the healthcare sector 

• Complete a strategic analysis and recommendation to devise a healthcare sectoral strategy that employers can utilize to recruit and retain skilled talent 

• Facilitate continuous development of the healthcare sectoral strategy to support increasing the number of participating employers, strengthening outcomes of a dynamic labor market, and supporting the equity and impact of career-connected learning within the healthcare sector