Loma Linda University Community-Academic Partners in Service (CAPS), part of the Institute for Community Partnerships, received a $20,000 grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to expand its program connecting students to careers in health service.
Pablo Ariza, MDiv, director of CAPS, said the donated funds will help drive the expansion of a pilot program, which started in February. This program introduces middle school students from the surrounding community to careers in the health industry. “These needed funds will also be used to better track CAPS program participants on their long-term journey toward a health profession,” Ariza said.
Juan Carlos Belliard, PhD, MPH, director of the Institute for Community Partnerships, said, “CAPS is now able to expand this successful program for children from diverse backgrounds — an investment in our community and the next generation of health science professionals and healthcare providers. We’re proud to increase awareness of health professions among a younger and more impressionable age group in order to address the current shortage of underrepresented minorities in the health workforce.”
“The future of the region’s economy and its sustainability begins with stronger pathways toward educational attainment and a skilled labor force,” said Al Argüello, Inland Empire market president at Bank of America. “Through strategic philanthropic investments with partners like Loma Linda and its CAPS program, Bank of America is deploying its capital to help connect teens and young adults to educational resources and advanced job skills training to help them thrive in the current workforce, especially for those from economically disadvantaged communities.”