Health Care

Health Careers for Youth

Health Careers for Youth (HCY) is an award-winning public-private partnership focused on making education and employment in health care more accessible to underrepresented youth, including bilingual youth of color.

HCY keeps young people engaged in school, enhances their opportunities for economic and employment success, and builds the workforce needed by one of our state’s key industries. The model meets industry needs in two ways: by getting more youth in the pipeline generally, and by increasing diversity among candidates coming out of training programs..

Successes
Four cohorts of King County high school students have participated in Health Careers for Youth to date. Some notable highlights:

  • Of the 68 students in the these cohorts, 93% completed CNA training, approximately two-thirds of whom earned national certified nursing assistant licensure. 
  • Of the 40 students in the first two cohorts, 75% successfully completed rigorous college coursework while in high school, such as math, English, nutrition, biology, chemistry, and psychology.
  • More than half the Health Careers for Youth students overall have participated in or are scheduled to begin paid paid internships/work experience in the health care field, and several others participated in competitive career exploration programs such as ProjectHOPE and  Seattle Pacific University’s Nursing Camp.
  • Students in the second cohort collectively earned more than 500 college credits during academic year 2007-08.  At current community college tuition rates, this amounts to nearly $40,000 in savings to students and their families compared to the cost of taking these classes after high school and paying tuition.
  • In addition, the state’s investment in Running Start is doubled when students are enrolled at the colleges because they earn both high school and college credits.  The Health Careers for Youth students, on average, earned more than a full year of high school credit and accumulated valuable college credits and experience at no additional cost to them or the state.


RECOGNITION
The Health Careers for Youth model developed in King County has been replicated in two other areas of Washington, Yakima and Spokane.  HCY also earned the WDC of Seattle-King County a Governor’s Best Practice Award in 2009, and a “Bright Idea” designation from the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.