WASHINGTON – Erie County's federally backed program to bolster its health care workforce won some national attention on Wednesday, as County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz described the effort in depth during a White House summit with Vice President Kamala Harris and other Biden administration officials.
The administration put together the summit to highlight states and localities that had exhibited "best practices" in using workforce development funds allocated last year under the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan passed by Congress shortly after President Biden took office in January 2021.
Erie County spent $1.6 million of its federal stimulus funding to establish a new Erie County Healthcare Careers grant program, which provides students with grants of up to $10,000 for their education to enter high-demand health care professions such as nursing, physical therapy, respiratory therapy and X-ray technology.
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Poloncarz said at the summit that he had hoped to enroll 200 people in the program by this fall, but it proved so popular that 150 were enrolled in it by last December. That prompted the county to pour $1.3 million of its own funds into the effort.
Some 357 people are already enrolled in the program, and Poloncarz said 400 will likely be enrolled by this fall – double the original target. The students generally enroll at SUNY Erie Community College, D'Youville University, Medaille College and other local schools, usually in two-year programs.
"We will continue to fund this program because we know the individuals who are trained in this program will find a job," Poloncarz said at the summit. "These jobs exist. It is our hope that every single one of the individuals who goes to the Erie County health care careers program is employed within one month of the ending of their training. And based on what we're hearing from those in the health care field in Erie County, they will be hired."
That's because the Covid-19 pandemic thinned the ranks of health care professionals in Erie County and nationwide, as many longtime nurses and other health aides decided to retire or move on.
Poloncarz thanked the Biden administration for pushing to pass the stimulus plan that led to the creation of Erie County's health care training effort.
"Without the initial allocation from their American Rescue Plan in the amounts that we received, it is highly unlikely this successful program would have been created," he said.
Poloncarz appeared at the 2½-hour White House event with state and local leaders such as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who each described and touted federally funded workforce development efforts that they led.
Gene Sperling, the White House coordinator for stimulus funding, called the bill's workforce training initiative "one of the most underappreciated investments in the American Rescue Plan."
And Harris said the White House had summoned local leaders to the summit for a good reason.
"We are doing so much important and impactful work," Harris said. "And we have therefore convened this summit with these extraordinary leaders so they can share their stories and share the stories of the people they represent."
After the event, Poloncarz said he appreciated being invited. He also noted that he discussed the program one-on-one with Sperling.
"He specifically pointed out during a pre-meeting how he really liked this program because it does exactly what they want when we talk about workforce development: it trains people for jobs that exist in the community today," Poloncarz said. "So you're not training a person for a job and hoping that they find a job. These people are going to find jobs once they are fully educated, because these jobs exist and they're going to exist for decades."
Jerry Zremski
Washington bureau
Jerry Zremski, who has covered Washington for The Buffalo News since 1989, is a lecturer at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
