The Georgia Hospital Association and United Way of Greater Atlanta, through Atlanta CareerRise, announced the Careers in Healthcare Atlanta Mobility Project, or CHAMP partnership at the GHA offices in Marietta. CHAMP was established to ensure the availability of a skilled healthcare workforce, both now and in the future, to meet employer demand in the Greater Atlanta region. The program will also give unemployed, underemployed, and incumbent individuals the opportunity to achieve economic gain and fulfilling employment through career pathways, innovative training programs, and services that support individual growth.
 
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, healthcare and social assistance leads all industry sectors in Georgia in terms of new jobs and job growth, and will account for one quarter of new jobs created in the state through 2020.
 
Georgia’s healthcare jobs are expected to grow more rapidly than employment in any other industry in the state between 2012 and 2020, with about 149,300 jobs expected to be added during this period. In fact, one report which evaluates the healthcare job market in every state, projects the number of healthcare jobs in Georgia to grow 38 percent between 2012 and 2020, almost double the growth in other industries. In the 12 months ending Jan. 31, 2016, there were over 63,000 posted openings for healthcare occupations in metro Atlanta alone.  These openings range from requiring post-secondary certifications to advanced degrees, with family-sustaining wage opportunities at many levels of education.
 
“This GHA and Atlanta CareerRise partnership was formed to build capacity for frontline healthcare worker advancement with area employers to meet the growing demand for medical services,” said Earl V. Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Hospital Association. “This collaboration will also help us collect employer needs data, enhance healthcare and workforce connections and establish an infrastructure that will allow for successful recruitment of federal funding which will be necessary to deliver desired outcomes.”
 
The Georgia Hospital Association, serving as the leading advocate for Georgia hospitals, and Atlanta CareerRise, a funder collaborative managed by the United Way of Greater Atlanta of local investors, are the convening partners of CHAMP. The employer-driven partnership will include participation from area healthcare employers, government agencies, workforce investment boards, education partners, and community-based organizations, among others.
 
“Atlanta CareerRise’s primary mission is to implement front-line workforce initiatives,  and CHAMP is particularly exciting because it can also address the development needs of the healthcare workforce at all levels,” said Milton J. Little, Jr. President and CEO, United Way of Greater Atlanta and Chair, Atlanta CareerRise. “This is a regional effort focused on metro Atlanta and it holds the promise of producing best practices that can help peer healthcare employers from across the state to meet their workforce needs.”
 
Atlanta-area healthcare providers are invited to participate in the partnership’s Employer Leadership Council, which will set CHAMP’s strategic direction. In addition, all partners are invited to participate in the CHAMP Operations Advisory Committee, which will conduct workforce development and program planning, and evaluation to help connect the talent needs of healthcare employers to programs, services, and resources across the CHAMP network.
 
The partnership is in effect for one year beginning today, and will be renewable annually, upon agreement of both leading organizations.
 
CHAMP partners include healthcare employers, academic institutions, community providers, government agencies, and local workforce development agencies.