NYACH Ready for Healthcare Initiative & Learning Toolkit
About the Initiative
NYACH’s Ready for Healthcare initiative consisted of an industry-informed, multiyear work-based learning model and supportive toolkit designed to build deep relationships among employers, high schools, and communities to prepare New York City high school students with the skills and support to launch a successful career in healthcare.
The initiative was designed and implemented in partnership with local NYC healthcare employers and four NYC Department of Education Career and Technical Education (CTE) healthcare public high schools, funded as part of JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills for Youth initiative and in support of NYACH’s mission to sustain a more effective and equitable healthcare workforce development ecosystem in New York City.
Healthcare makes up about 20% of the New York City economy and employs hundreds of thousands of workers. With its scale and diversity of jobs, healthcare presents an excellent opportunity for young adults to find a meaningful and impactful career that suit students’ interests and strengths.
But a tidal wave of changes has washed over healthcare in the past twenty years, accelerating through the 2010 Affordable Care Act and more recently with COVID-19 pandemic. The Ready for Healthcare Initiative—and the NYC Department of Education Career and Technical Education more broadly—give students the advantage of learning and career exposure so that they are better prepared for the new technologies, clinical protocols, staffing and financial models, and ways of working that continue to impact the healthcare system.
About the Toolkit
The supportive toolkit you find here is a collection of resources intended to serve as an open source roadmap and curriculum guide to introduce high schoolers to the diversity of careers available in healthcare and the skills they need to succeed in those careers.
Together, the model and toolkit make it easier for employers and educators to engage with meaningful work-based learning activities and support students through their professional journey. The toolkit offers structured learning activities that develop the skills employers need, ensures they are developmentally appropriate for students, and offers easily modifiable tools to support the full range of work-based learning activities.
Though this toolkit was specifically designed to support our four-year, scaffolded learning model, these tools are modular, easy-to-use, and highly adaptable, intended to be of use to anyone interested in introducing young people to the potential of working in the healthcare sector. We share this toolkit here to make these resources as widely available as possible.
Getting
Started
This toolkit contains over 90 resources developed for employers, mentors, educators and students that can support a range of work-based learning activities.
Work-based learning activities include: guest speaker events, healthcare career fairs, workplace tours and site visits, career mentoring, professional skills training, internship programs, and postgraduate support.
Below you can explore the toolkit’s contents by choosing your respective role. Alternatively you can navigate the toolkit by selecting an activity-based resource bundle or by downloading the full toolkit.
All tools are available as Microsoft Word documents that are fully editable and customizable to your needs.
Explore Materials
by Role
The toolkit contains resources for all participants in work-based learning models. Choose your role to find a collection of resources tailored to your position.
Explore Materials
by Activity
These bundles of materials make it easy to get started with specific work-based learning experiences. Each “mini-toolkit” contains resources for employers, mentors, educators, and students, and helps guide you through the “before,” “during,” and “after” of each activity.
Toolkit Bulk Download
To download all of the materials in the NYACH Ready for Healthcare Toolkit, click the button below.
Learn More
If you are an educator or school administrator exploring the possibility of instituting the full Ready for Healthcare curriculum at your school, please feel free to contact NYACH for a consultation.
For employers looking to work with New York City Department of Education Career and Technical Education programs in Healthcare, please e-mail the NYCDOE CTE team.