Organization Information
Lead Organization
Los Rios Community College District
Funding Information
Total Funding Received
$325,070
Type of Funding Received
Accelerator Fund
Student Information
Who were the intended beneficiaries?
Students of color, low-income learners, first-generation learners, rural learners, adult learners, and comebackers.
How many students were served?
200 students
Program Information
With multiple healthcare systems and hospitals, the greater Sacramento region was a major healthcare hub, which intensified the demand for skilled allied health professionals. This dual-strand proposal, submitted by Los Rios Community College District, was designed to support the growth and preparedness of the regional workforce by:
- Expanding Los Rios’s Allied Health Pathway by establishing two new in-demand career pathways in Cardiovascular Technologist (CVT) and Surgical Technology (ST).
- Undertaking research with major regional health systems to understand and respond to the challenges facing local community college districts in securing allied health clinical placements to meet student and employer demand.
How is this project reaching high-priority or underserved student populations?
Although the CVT program is not focused on transfer to >CSUS and Davis and is instead focused on certificate completion and employment in a high-wage-earning healthcare occupation, funding is being used to conduct outreach to populations disproportionately impacted in employment in high-wage healthcare fields — generating participation from these groups, including men of color.
The surgical technology program will expand access and opportunity for students of color in the region. With the new program faculty, and in collaboration with college outreach staff, they will implement outreach events for students in allied health programs on campus and in high schools. Efforts include diversifying the healthcare workforce and enhancing community health outcomes.
What updates have occurred so far?
- Secured a room to house the CVT program at the Davis Center
- Submitted the CVT curriculum to the Curriculum committee
- Created Pediatric content and added to the curriculum
- Created a plan to hire an adjunct CVT faculty to help guide the process
Did you run into any unexpected challenges and what were they?
One challenge is the CVT website. The curriculum committee won’t begin releasing content until the end of the spring semester, which leaves little time to advertise the new program or give students a platform to research and apply. Program information and applications should be ready by January 1, 2026 for the fall 2026 start. We are exploring options to address this.
Another challenge is salary. Surgical technologists can earn more working in the field than teaching at a college. Our challenge is encouraging practitioners to leave higher-paying positions to take on teaching and program coordination roles.
Looking Ahead
We maintain that it is essential to work with our healthcare partners to incentivize their employees to teach for us, and to collaborate to secure training/practicum positions specifically for our students.
It takes time for meaningful collaboration and to schedule time based on individual work schedules, given the limited timeline. For example, due to multiple staffing transitions with SCC folks involved with the grant, each team member came in at different stages with different levels of knowledge. This created a slower process to learn the grants, bring people up to speed, learn institutional processes, and at the same time try to meet the timeline for spending. Because of this, CVT planning meetings are now scheduled more often, and additional team members were added to utilize their expertise in budgets, purchasing, and processes.