• Post category:In the News
Cathy Colangelo, executive director of Partners in Education

Greater Hazleton Partners in Education received a grant to develop a Career Pathways to Health Care Program for middle school students in the Hazleton Area School District.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation recently rolled out a Careers in Care program, with the focus being on feeding the pipeline of the health care workforce in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties. The Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of the people of the region and particularly those most vulnerable and most underserved of the population. The Scranton Area Community Foundation, a community foundation that has been serving the people of Lackawanna County since 1954, serves as the administrator of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation.

Partners in Education, in collaboration with health care practitioners from the Lehigh Valley Health Network-Hazleton, will work with Valerie Cerra and Lesson aLIVE, Inc. to develop a 10-module connected learning program during which local healthcare professionals will directly engage, educate and inspire middle school students as they are introduced to different healthcare professionals.

With the first disbursement of what Partners in Education executive director, Cathy Colangelo hopes will be a three-year sponsorship from the Foundation, the curriculum will be created and piloted to a small group of 8th grade students in the Hazleton Area School District this spring, followed by a rollout on a larger scale in the fall of 2021.

Colangelo said that she sees receiving this grant as a “significant achievement for our organization. The launch of this unique education program will impact students, our health care partners and ultimately our community and we are very excited for the opportunity to bring this to our local school district.”

Partners in Education is a 501(c)3 organization consisting of local business and education partners focused on ensuring that all students leave school with the academic, technical and employability skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century workplace.  For more information, please contact Cathy Colangelo at edufirst@ptd.net or call (570) 450-6314.