Toppenish-based Heritage University recently received a $2.5 million federal grant intended to create a new pathway for rural high school students to pursue four-year nursing degrees. 

The Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development Grant will support “a case-managed pathway from rural high schools to local hospitals,” according to a release from the private liberal arts school.  

It will target 11 high schools and will be carried out with partners including Benton-Franklin Health District, Prosser Memorial Health and Astria Health. The high schools Heritage will be working with was not immediately available. 

“This grant allows Heritage University to build a stronger bridge between our rural high schools, higher education and the healthcare organizations that serve our communities,” said President Christopher Gilmer in a statement. “We want students to see a clear path from their own communities to a college degree, a nursing career and an opportunity to serve the people and communities they know best.” 

The new program will start in high school by providing in-school advising, campus visits and support for bilingual families and then individualized support for enrolled nursing students and for those students as they graduate and move into the workforce. 

School officials said the program is as much about helping students pursue their goals for nursing careers as it is about supporting the region’s rural communities and addressing an ongoing shortage of nurses.

“Preparing more nurses for the Lower Yakima Valley requires more than simply recruiting students into a nursing program,” said Shelby Clark, Heritage’s chair of the nursing department, in a statement. “As Heritage University’s BSN program, we can make a lasting impact – not only on our students and the nursing workforce, but also on the patients and families we serve.” 

Heritage, which also operates a campus in Kennewick, is one of three higher education institutions with a nursing program. Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College also train nurses at their healthcare-specific facilities in central Richland.