Our Rural and Underserved APRN fellowship is currently full and pending new funding. Please check back here often for updates! ~Thank you.
Introducing the Rural and Underserved APRN Initiative
The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence in partnership with The Daniel and Janet Mordecai Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation is pleased to introduce an extension of the Rural and Underserved APRN Fellowship Initiative.
We are seeking nurses with at least a BSN level education living in rural and/or underserved Colorado who would be willing to stay and practice in rural and/or underserved Colorado and are interested in attaining Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Licensure. The state of Colorado provides the opportunity for APRNs to practice with full practice authority. Many BSN prepared nurses consider returning to a graduate program to become an advanced practice registered nurse, but are limited by other factors which typically include location, costs, child care, flexibility in the work place, and time.
This initiative provides a stipend to 30 nurses in rural and/or underserved areas of Colorado who agree to return to school to complete an APRN program. Upon graduation, the APRN must contractually agree to practice in rural and/or underserved Colorado for a minimum of two years for every year funded or reimburse the money. Participants must also help find community matching funds to support their educational journey. Additionally, if selected as a Nurse Fellow, the nurse will receive graduate school application assistance and support and mentoring throughout the graduate school experience. The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence will also work within the community in which the APRN applicant lives and plans to practice to work with the nurse’s employer to secure flexible schedule support while in school and to obtain community matching funds to assist with education costs.
In order to be eligible applicants must meet these criteria:
- Cannot already be a student in an APRN program, but may be actively applying
- Must be working, living or connected to rural and/or underserved communities
- Must be willing to sign a contract to serve in a rural and/or underserved for 2 years for each year funding is provided
- Must be willing to assist with finding community matching funds (this may be education funds from the employer)
Click here to download an application for the Fellowship. Please fill it out and forward it to Ingrid Johnson DNP, MPP, RN from the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence. You can email her at Ingrid@ColoradoNursingCenter.org or if you have questions she can be reached at 303-715-0342, ext. 21.
We look forward to hearing from you!