Wake AHEC

NC Nursing Initiatives - Nursing Grants

Clinical Site Development
Each year, the NC AHEC Program may allocate funds to eligible schools of nursing within the community colleges and the constituent institutions of UNC to develop new clinical training sites for nursing students. The expansion of the number of quality clinical training sites and the number of students using each site is imperative to meet the increase in student enrollments. The increase in enrollments is an outcome of the IOM Task Force on the North Carolina Nursing Workforce recommendation.
To be eligible for funding, clinical sites must meet the following criteria:

  • Are new or have not been used in the past 5 years
  • Accept the greatest number of students at all levels of education for a significant participatory clinical experience
  • Develop and utilize well-trained preceptors who practice in these sites
  • Develop the sites to become self-supporting in two years or less
  • Focus on at-risk populations or workforce shortage areas

Each nursing program may submit one application for a single clinical site. Proposals should benefit both the nursing program and the clinical agency, and funds may cover educational materials and supplies, teaching tools/equipment, faculty salaries, and faculty travel to the clinical site for development. The call for proposals is issued in January of each year.

For more information, contact Kathy Clark atkgclark@wakeahec.org

Education Mobility:
Interested in returning to school for BSN, MSN, PhD or DNP? Current workforce data suggest that the need for advanced practice nurses will continue to increase over the next decade. For more information regarding educational mobility options available, check out the College Foundation of North Carolina

Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses Project (RIBN)
The goal of the RIBN project is to increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate or higher degree to 80% by 2025.  Educational partnerships between community colleges and universities dually enrolls students in a seamless four-year nursing curriculum.  More information can be found on the Foundation for Nursing Excellence site. You may also refer to the listing of schools with RN-to-BSN programs on the NC Board of Nursing site.  In support of the RIBN project, NC AHEC has funded the Connect for Success program through Wake AHEC. 

To view a video about the RIBN initiative, see A Win-Win for Healthcare in North Carolina: The RIBN Project by Kathryn “Ginger” Ward-Presson .