title: Academic-community partnerships: opening the doors to a nursing career.
abstract: With the belief that diversity is strength, the community of Reading, Pennsylvania, set forth an effort to meet the challenges of the disparity within the local nursing workforce with a comprehensive, long-term approach for the recruitment and retention of an underrepresented group. An academic-community partnership was formed to develop multifaceted programs and support across school and community agency systems. The Alvernia College Nursing Department has taken a leadership role to coordinate many community and health care agencies with the goal of increasing the number of baccalaureate-prepared Hispanic and bilingual nurses to provide culturally competent and sensitive care to the community.
authors.affiliation: Alvernia College, Reading, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thacker
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D003256:Community Participation; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D019303:Multilingualism; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000458:organization & administration; D011204:Poverty Areas; D017149:Private Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development; D017150:Public Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D012579:Schools, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012944:Social Support; D014146:Training Support / Q000458:organization & administration; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000193:education; D014505:Urban Population; D014830:Vocational Guidance / Q000458:organization & administration