Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
Tuskegee University has been awarded a $25,000 HBCU Cares State Agency Talent Pipeline Initiative mini-grant to support a collaborative workforce and internship initiative between the Department of Social Work (BSW and DL MSW) housed in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences housed in the College of Agriculture, Environment, and Nutrition Sciences (CAENS).
This investment advances Tuskegee’s commitment to strengthening Alabama’s rural and underserved workforce pipelines by deepening interdisciplinary partnerships that address food insecurity, rural health disparities, and behavioral health workforce shortages. The grant also marks an important first that Tuskegee has been aiming to accomplish for several years, as an active member institution of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC). IPEC collaborates with academic institutions to promote and support efforts to prepare future health professionals to enter the workforce ready for interprofessional collaborative practice to increase the health of individuals and populations.
“We are thrilled about the launch of this initiative for IPEC and putting into place the IPEC competencies that align with each professional program education standards to develop the Alabama workforce and interprofessional education,” said Dr. April Jones, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work and Tuskegee’s IPEC director. Dr. Jones is also the principal investigator of the grant.
“What HBCU Cares has done is a huge contribution. It is a catalyst to support community patients by addressing health disparities, food insecurity, and related issues in partnership with local healthcare providers, all of which can be transformational in their lives.”
Funding has been the barrier to starting the IPEC and that’s where HBCU Cares stepped in.
The Alabama-based non-profit a coalition of Historically Black Colleges, Community Colleges, and Universities to collaboratively harness research, expertise, and programs that create meaningful economic and workforce opportunities. fostering a future where their students, alumni, and surrounding communities thrive.
“This grant is important because we want Tuskegee students to stay in Alabama, we want to retain our top talent here,” said Dr. Brittany Holloman, executive director of HBCU Cares. “We want them to live, work and thrive in Alabama, knowing that everything they need is right here to have a successful, sustainable and meaningful life.”
She added that the HBCU Cares philosophy is focused on solving the practical issues of funding, leaving the execution to the institutions because they know the strengths, needs and capacity of their students best.
“Our institutions know what is best for their students, and programs are not one-size-fit-all. If we can help them the biggest barrier they have – finances – we come in to do what we can, with what we have, to be a part of the solution.”
The Department of Social Work and the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences will team up to pilot a campus-based Hybrid Experiential Learning IPEC Hub that integrates virtual and in-person training and placements, supported by targeted outreach and recruitment, continuing education and podcast programming, and direct student financial supports.
One of the most practical – and fun – elements of the program will be a cooking class. Led by Tuskegee undergraduate students, patients will be grouped by conditions for which they are seeking treatment, prescribed a nutrition-based meal to address root causes, then proceed to a food lab, with ingredients sources from local farmers, to prepare the meal in real-time. Students will then create long-term meal plans, in addition to other treatment options including exercise, counseling, and consultation with medical professionals.
“Food is medicine,” said Dr. Olga Bolden-Tiller, dean of the College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences (CAENS). “We know that food is directly connected not only to physical but also to mental health, and this funding will be a catalyst for our students to put those two things together to provide real-world outcomes for people in our community.”
She added that this is an opportunity to adopt successful models already in place at MercyMed and Valley Health both in Columbus, Georgia that have clinics in rural communities doing prescription “food as medicine” clinical care.
“With this HBCU Cares grant, we are able to partner with our social work colleagues to give students an opportunity to utilize agriculture and animal science to bring this innovative model right here to Alabama,” said Dr. Bolden-Tiller.
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