City Announces Pathway for Immigrant New Yorkers to Enter Healthcare Field

NYC DEPARTMENT OF SMALL BUSINESS SERVICES ANNOUNCES NEW TRAINING PATHWAY FOR IMMIGRANT NEW YORKERS TO ENTER HEALTH CARE FIELD

Bilingual Medical Assistant Training Program Helps Immigrant New Yorkers Achieve Higher Wage Career Path Through Tailored Training

   The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) today announced the launch of the Bilingual Medical Assistant Training Program which provides tailored training to immigrant New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. This program, launched by SBS’s New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH), will help immigrant workers achieve higher wages and enter a career path as a Medical Assistant. The program is run out of SBS’s Workforce1 Career Center in Washington Heights and was developed in partnership with LaGuardia Community College. 

The training program supports New Yorkers in overcoming language barriers and opens up access to career paths in healthcare. The program will also help meet the high demand for a linguistically and culturally competent healthcare workforce to serve an increasingly diverse client population across the city. The two-part training program offers an initial contextualized English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum followed by a newly redesigned, industry-informed medical assistant curriculum that incorporates core competencies required for today’s healthcare workforce and will prepare participants to obtain full-time employment as medical assistants in the City’s community health centers, hospital-based clinics, and private physician practices.

“New York is proud to welcome and extend opportunities to those who immigrate to our city. The Bilingual Medical Assistant Training Program announced today will open a new, higher-wage career path for immigrant New Yorkers,” said Gregg Bishop, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “This program will also help hospitals and clinics meet the growing demand for linguistically and culturally-competent medical assistants across our city.”

Once participants complete the ESL portion, participants will enter professional skills-based training. Training includes administrative and clinical components, focuses on communication and teamwork skills, preparation for the Clinical Medical Assistant, Electrocardiogram, and Phlebotomy certification exams, and a paid internship. The training is open to New Yorkers across all 5 boroughs. 

The pilot cohorts, which are now underway, include 44 students who hail from a wide array of countries including the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Haiti, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan, Mexico, Cuba, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Indonesia, Mali, Togo, and Vietnam. The program takes place on a part-time evening and weekend schedule to allow participants to continue their current employment if applicable. The course is currently being offered at the Washington Heights Workforce1 Career Center.

Individuals who are interested in enrolling in future cohorts for the Bilingual Medical Assistant Training Program or other services may contact the Washington Heights Workforce1 Career Center at (929) 841-5050 or washingtonheightswf1@edsisolutions.com. 

NYACH

NYACH is an industry partnership, bringing together multiple stakeholders of the healthcare workforce development system in order to address the industry’s rapidly changing labor force needs. NYACH is an initiative of the public-private partnership between the NYC Department of Small Business Services and the NYC Workforce Funders. For more information, visit http://nyachnyc.org/ .

About NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) 

SBS helps unlock economic potential and create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating stronger businesses and building thriving neighborhoods across the five boroughs. For more information, visit our website.