College of Marin Gets Grant to Help Ease Nursing Shortages

North Bay Business Journal celebrates extraordinary women who are transforming the region through leadership and An infusion of new funding will help expand College of Marin's nursing program next year.

A $730,600 grant to fund slots for up to five students will help address a local, regional and statewide shortage of nursing professionals, said Alina Varona, a dean at the college.

The award is part of the Rebuilding Nursing Infrastructure grant program established by the California Community Colleges chancellor's office. Seventy-six colleges requested more than $135.9 million in funding in the competitive grant process.

College of Marin's grant is expected to begin on July 1 and run through June 30, 2027.

"The RNI grant program's primary objective is to close critical health care workforce gaps by expanding educational pathways for nursing degrees in California community colleges," said Anthony Cordova, a vice chancellor at the state office.

An estimated 18% of nurses statewide are expected to retire within five years, according to a report by the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, Varona said.

"This grant provides College of Marin the opportunity to expand our nursing program," Varona said. "It also helps us reimagine how we support, prepare and launch the next generation of nurses, while keeping equity, quality and workforce alignment at the center."

While shortages across the Bay Area are not as acute as in underserved regions, "localized shortages, especially in smaller counties like Marin, are anticipated due to the aging workforce and regional demand for health care services," Varona said.

College of Marin will increase its available incoming slots for the two-year associate's degree nursing program in fall 2026 from 43 to 48. That will lead to a total enrollment of 96 students in the program, Varona said.

The grant also will help the college bump up its roster of clinical placement opportunities for nursing students, Varona said.

"The limited availability of clinical placements continues to be a critical bottleneck in nursing workforce development — locally, statewide and nationally," Varona said.

On June 2, College of Marin plans to hold an event called the North Bay Regional Clinical Placement Collaborative at the Indian Valley Campus in Novato.

The gathering is intended to foster public-private partnerships and bring together educational deans and directors in the region, Varona said.

Also attending will be key health care employers such as Kaiser Permanente, MarinHealth and the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

"College of Marin is proud to provide high-quality health science programs, getting much-needed practitioners into the field," said Jonathan Eldridge, president of the school. "This grant allows us to enhance this work in nursing education specifically, an area of particular need locally and regionally."

San Rafael resident Tanya Powell, who is completing her first year in the associate's degree in nursing program, said she is excited about the new career opportunities that the additional education will open up for her.

"The COM nursing program has just been a huge life-changing experience for me," said Powell, 46, a mother of three teenage daughters.

A lactation consultant in San Francisco for the last 10 years, Powell said she expects to be able to promote herself to higher-level postpartum nurse positions or related jobs when she gets her degree.

"Pursuing a nursing degree is sort of an extension of my career and will give me a lot more opportunities for career advancement." she said.

Powell said she has already had two excellent clinical placements — one in a MarinHealth medical-surgical unit and the other in pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. She has also worked in the labor and delivery and postpartum units at the hospitals.

"It's been great," Powell said. "In my clinical experiences, I have heard great things about College of Marin and its graduates. I feel like they have a great reputation in the community."

While the clinical placements require a lot of work from the hospitals and nurses, "there will be no new nurses if the nurses aren't there to teach the new ones," Powell said.

"I hope they will be able to convince more local hospitals to take us on," she said.