Scholarships designed to help diversify the workforce and improve health equity

(WILMINGTON, Del. – Dec. 17)

To strengthen and diversify the health care workforce for years to come, ChristianaCare will provide $500,000 in scholarships to 10 students in Delaware who plan to pursue degrees in health care. Administered through the HBCU Week Foundation, each scholarship will provide $12,500 per year in financial support over four years and will include a paid internship at ChristianaCare.

“At ChristianaCare, we recognize that we are best able to deliver high-quality, equitable, safe care to everyone when our workforce reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve,” said ChristianaCare President and CEO Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH. “We are proud to partner with the HBCU Week Foundation in this exciting initiative that will create new opportunities for young people in our community to pursue careers in health care – and potentially join us as expert, caring partners in the health of our neighbors.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity to invest in the youth in our community as the health care leaders of tomorrow,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, J.D., chief health equity officer and senior vice president of Government Affairs and Community Engagement at ChristianaCare. “These scholarships will strengthen our professional pipeline and ensure that our caregivers reflect the communities we serve. We look forward to working with the HBCU Week Foundation in supporting the scholarship award recipients.”

Prospective students can learn how to apply for the scholarship online at https://www.hbcuweek.org/christianacare-scholarship/.

Applicants must:

• Be a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States.
• Complete or have completed high school with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted) and be entering their freshman year of college.
• Attend a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) for the entirety of their college education.
• Demonstrate financial need.
• Be a Delaware resident.

The deadline for application is March 1, 2022.

Winners will be announced during spring 2022. Students can choose from nearly two dozen majors that qualify for the scholarship, including biology, chemistry, nursing and health information technology.

“This partnership is particularly special for me, as it prepares students for future careers and addresses the deficit of diversity in the medical field,” said Ashley Christopher, Esq., founder and chief executive officer of HBCU Week Foundation, and an alumna of both Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.  “Through this partnership, we are putting forth tangible efforts to achieve true diversity in medicine and I couldn’t be prouder of this commitment from ChristianaCare.”

The scholarships represent an innovative approach by ChristianaCare to improve health equity, community health and inclusivity and diversity. In the past two years, ChristianaCare has been engaged in a wide variety of efforts that aim to advance inclusion and diversity within the organization and improve health equity in the community. In 2020, ChristianaCare made a public commitment to being an anti-racism organization. Under Dr. Nevin’s leadership, ChristianaCare is one of the first organizations in Delaware to sign the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which is a commitment to take specific actions to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

ChristianaCare also has launched LeadershipDNA, a leadership development program that fosters professional and career development for underrepresented, diverse populations within the organization.

In addition, ChristianaCare has developed a vibrant employee resource groups program that currently supports 10 employee resource groups, which connect caregivers who have a common interest or bond with one another. Formed by employees across all demographics – such as disability, gender, race, military status, national origin, sexual orientation, etc. – these voluntary grassroots groups work to improve inclusion and diversity at ChristianaCare. More than 1,000 caregivers at ChristianaCare participate in employee resource groups.

For its efforts, ChristianaCare has been ranked one of the Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes magazine, as well as the No. 1 employer for diversity and inclusion in Delaware and the No. 14 health system nationwide by Forbes.

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

About HBCU Week

The mission of HBCU Week Foundation is to encourage high school aged youth to enroll into HBCUs, provide scholarship dollars for matriculation and sustain a pipeline of employment from undergraduate school to corporate America.
HBCU Week is an annual, week-long, programmatic initiative, designed to encourage high school aged youth to enroll into HBCUs, through exposure to their proud legacies and historical significance. HBCU Week occurs annually, in the Fall. In 2022, HBCU Week will consist of a multi-City tour. The Foundation recently formed a partnership with Disney. HBCU Week will be hosted at Walt Disney World in October 2022.
The most impactful event during HBCU Week is the College Fair. This fair is unique in that majority of the participating colleges engage in an, “on the spot” acceptance process, whereby, if the student attends with a copy of their school transcript and a report with the requisite SAT/ACT score, they could be admitted into college on the spot and offered a scholarship award. Since 2017, more than 3,500 acceptances on the spot have been offered and more than $25,000,000.00 in scholarships have been awarded.
The Foundation’s brand ambassador is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

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