Le Moyne Awarded $5 Million Grant from New York to Support Students in Purcell School Health Care Programs

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The grant is the second largest in the history of the College

Le Moyne College will receive a $5 million, five-year grant from the New York Department of Health under the new statewide Healthcare Education and Life-skills Program (HELP).  The HELP initiative assists students pursuing careers in healthcare by offering wrap-around services and support in order to address the critical workforce shortages across the healthcare sector.

The grant will support graduate students in the Purcell School for Professional Studies enrolled in nursing, physician assistant studies, clinical mental health counseling and occupational therapy. The grant, the second-largest in the College’s history behind the $7.2 million received in 2022 to fund the ERIE21 Program, will start on Jan. 1, 2026.

This student funding and support program will be called the Healthcare Opportunities for Professional and Educational Success (HOPES). In addition to generous financial support for more than 50 students each year, the program will involve three programming pillars: transition into the program, transition to the profession and transition to practice. Overseeing implementation of the program will be the Office of Graduate Admission and Success and the Purcell School.

The tiered approach will provide critical support to onboard, retain and qualify graduate students in the healthcare field. It ties directly to the College’s strategic plan Tomorrow Together, which calls for the institution to “assess local and regional markets for partnerships that increase programmatic reach” and also aligns with its Jesuit tenant of cura personalis, or care for the whole person,

“The grant will increase resources critical to running programming, coaching students and providing vital services to support student success,” said Purcell School Dean Meega Wells, Ph.D., R.N., APN- BC. “It will benefit our graduate healthcare students in many ways throughout their journey through their respective programs.”

“My deepest gratitude to the many faculty, program directors and staff who contributed to the data collection and writing of the grant proposal to develop the innovative concept that resulted in this funding,” said President Linda LeMura. “It was truly a collaborative effort across the College.”

This HELP initiative is part of a broader $10 billion investment announced by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 with a goal of rebuilding and expanding the healthcare workforce. The program’s goal is to address health workforce shortages by providing support services to healthcare trainees, thereby enhancing the career pipeline and improving access to healthcare training in underserved areas. HELP has annual funding availability of $19.5 million.