Over the past year, Suffolk Care Collaborative (SCC) and Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), Office of Continuing Education, have been working together to promote programs for community members that will build a workforce pipeline with skills to  fill emerging titles and upgrade skills of workers already in the healthcare field.

This past spring, 12 students participated (tuition free) in classroom and online instruction to develop career skills for the healthcare field through a Tech Hire workforce grant. The course, Health Information Boot Camp, was designed to prepare students with practical knowledge to strengthen time management skills, develop organizational skills and introduce them to the use of Electronic Health Record (EHR). Students also completed a module that introduced them to the Community Health Care Worker career and received CPR Certification. Students earned a National Workforce Readiness Credential (NWRC) upon completion and were able to take the Health IT online course, making them eligible for the HIMSS Health IT certification.

In an effort to introduce high school students and recent graduates to healthcare careers, SCC and SCCC collaborated with Superintendent of Hampton Bays Union Free School District, Lars Clemensen, to launch a pilot program that took place this summer. The Health Information Boot Camp was conducted, tuition free, in a classroom at Hampton Bays Schools with classroom training for the community health worker module provided by SCC staff member, Anne Barrett, Director of Communications and Workforce Transformation.   This type of collaboration and introduction of healthcare careers to community members provides  opportunity and future career growth, and creates a pipeline of workers for healthcare providers in Suffolk County.

The past year has proved to be a success for COMPASS Unity through Strength and Diversity, Bellport/South Country School District's alcohol and drug prevention coalition.  As it strives toward making community level change, the Coalition continues to be supported by Family Service League's Underage Drinking Prevention Initiative (funded by Suffolk Care Collaborative) and its federal grant from the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program. Since inception of the DFC grant, COMPASS Unity has engaged in multiple events and activities that have taken place within the South Country Central School District and surrounding community, including;  

• Providing training to South Country Central School District's social workers in Teen Intervene. Teen Intervene is an early intervention program for youth that are experimenting with substances.
• Hiring Epiphany Community Services (ECS) for evaluation services. ECS is a practical evaluation and technical assistance firm that specializes in working with community coalitions.
• Launching a social media marketing campaign by way of hashtags, graphic artwork, branded photos and informative promotional videos, hosted on the Coalition's website and social media platforms.
• Hosting environmental strategies such as Operation Pizza Box and Sticker Shock, which are initiatives that aim to raise awareness about underage drinking by way of placing stickers with positive messaging on pizza boxes and alcoholic beverage packaging.
• Increasing the capacity of the Coalition by engaging in activities such as: networking, obtaining membership in the Bellport Chamber of Commerce, and through the formation of COMPASS Youth Coalition- the youth sector of COMPASS Unity. The Coalition also hired its first employee for clerical duties and secured an intern from Stony Brook University to assist with daily planning and implementation.
• Providing support for four Bellport Middle School students to attend Long Island Teen Institute (LITI) Middle School Conference. LITI is hosted by HUGS, Inc., a not-for-profit agency that provides prevention education strategies aimed at reducing high risk behaviors among youth while fostering positive attitudes to improve all areas of life.
• Attending The National Coalitions Academy (NCA), a year-long comprehensive training program developed by Communities Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), which teaches coalition leaders and members what they need to know and do to establish and maintain a highly effective anti-drug coalition.
• Attending  CADCA's Annual National Leadership Forum, a four-day event packed with opportunities to learn the latest strategies and hear from prevention experts, federal administrators, and policymakers.
• Hosting informational tables at community events such as: Bellport Day, National Night Out, Bellport High School's 9th grade orientation, and Senator's Monica Martinez Back-to-School Block Party event.
• Hosting a 1st Annual Awareness Day during Bellport High School's 9th grade student orientation. The Coalition hired two public speakers, Kym Laube from HUGS Inc. and bicycle stunt man Chris Poulos to speak to parents and students about substance use prevention topics.
• Hosting COMPASS Unity's 6th Annual Youth Summit at Bellport Middle School, an all-day summit that consists of a keynote speaker and three workshops geared towards teaching 8th graders about making healthy decisions.
• Collaborating with the Long Island Prevention Resource Center on trainings for the Coalition and its sectors.  The focus included prevention topics from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMSHA) Strategic Prevention Framework.