Ladders to Licensure

Background

In September 2024, EOHHS announced the release of a Grant Application for the new Ladders to Licensure program (RIGL 42-166). Ladders to Licensure will help increase the capacity and diversity of the health professional workforce by funding partnerships between healthcare providers, institutions of higher education, and others to support employees in paraprofessional roles to pursue higher education and health professional licensure. 

Ladders to Licensure currently funds the following activities:

1. Career Ladder Planning and Design: Funding and technical assistance for partnerships to design one or more career ladders that meet program requirements
2. Tuition Supports: Up to $8,000/ year of last-dollar funding for tuition and related expenses for eligible employees of Ladders to Licensure employer partners
3. Career Ladder Implementation: Implementation funds to implement career ladders that meet program requirements

In December 2024, EOHHS awarded three Ladders to Licensure grantee partnerships. Those three grantee partnerships are:

• Community College of Rhode Island ‘Rise to Registered Nurse’ Partnership, focused on pathways from CNA to RN, with Kent Hospital (Care New England Health System), and RI Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, & Newport Hospital (Brown University Health)
• Rhode Island College ‘Clinical Career Ladders to Licensure’ Partnership, focused on Social Work and Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with Child & Family Services of RI, Community Care Alliance, Family Service of RI, Tides Family Services, and RI Department of Children, Youth, and Families
• William James College ‘Behavioral Healthcare Ladders to Licensure’ Partnership, focused on Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with Communities for People, Tides Family Services, and Family Service of RI

View the Ladders to Licensure progress report (January - June 2025). 

NEW Ladders to Licensure Planning Grant Awarded

In November 2025, EOHHS awarded a planning grant to a long-term care partnership led by Nursing Placement, Inc (NPI) that includes the Community College of RI and eleven employer partners, including Nursing Placement Home Health Care Services, Nursing Placement Hospice and Palliative Care, Village House Convalescent Home Associates, Bayberry Commons, Elmwood Health Center, West Shore Health Center, South Kingstown Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Eastgate Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, AccessPointRI, Tamarisk Senior Living, and Nursing Placement Inc. 

The focus of the new partnership will be to develop ladders for Nursing Assistants that lead to Licensed Practical Nurse, Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants, and Physical Therapy Assistants. The Planning Grant will run from January through June 2026, and, upon successful completion, NPI and its employer partners will be eligible to receive tuition supports and other resources to help their employees pursue health professional degrees and licenses.