Capital Bulletin: April 2024 Edition

Educating Advocates: Advancing Your Career through Internships and Fellowships

At this point in the academic year, you might be looking forward to a restful summer and taking a breath as you prepare for the fall semester.  Summer is also a great time to consider opportunities for professional and personal enrichment. 

One professional enrichment you might want to consider is an internship or fellowship. Nurses often don’t consider stepping outside of their typical roles and taking advantage of these experiences to learn and make new connections. The opportunity to be involved in an organization, committee, in government or private sector work can be a career changing experience that expands your horizons and knowledge about a topic, while providing amazing networking opportunities. Additionally, you will expand your knowledge about the nursing profession and how to contribute to important work that benefits from nursing engagement. 

Internship and fellowship opportunities for nursing students and nurses well established in their career are numerous and available as in person and via virtual opportunities. A few examples include: 

• AACN Government Affairs and Policy Internship
• David A Winston Health Policy Fellowship
• Distinguished Nurse Scholar-in-Residence Program
• Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program
• Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows 

If you are interested, consider reaching out for information at the links above. Imagine the advocacy skills you could learn with an internship or fellowship opportunity! 

April Highlights:

AACN is pleased to see increases to programs that support nursing education and the workforce in the Administration's proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. In FY 2025, the Biden Administration specifically recommends $320.472 million for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs, which reflects a $20 million increase over FY 2023 enacted and FY 2024 Continuing Resolution (CR) levels. This total includes a $10 million increase in Advanced Nursing Education to support the expansion of the maternity care nursing workforce and an additional $10 million for the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention (NEPQR) programs to strengthen the nursing workforce in rural and underserved communities, with emphasis on maternal health. Consistent funding was recommended for the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), with a total of $198.3 million proposed in FY 2025. View AACN’s press release here. 

April 15: AACN hosted a virtual policy day for John Hopkins University’s DNP program. More than 40 students participated in virtual Capitol Hill Visits with Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Kweisi Mfume’s office.  

April 15: AACN signed onto a letter urging Congress to provide $420.85 million to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Environmental Health in the FY 2025.

April 1: AACN signed onto a letter urging Congress to maintain the House and Senate set-asides for midwifery and nurse-midwifery education in any final FY 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) appropriations package.

April 1: AACN signed onto a Friends of HRSA letter urging Congress to provide at least $10.5 billion for discretionary Health Resources and Services Administration programs in any final FY 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) appropriations bill.

March 28: AACN signed onto a Friends of NCHS letter urging Congress to provide $220 million for NCHS in FY 2025, which will strengthen the agency’s ability to provide unbiased, timely health data to policymakers and reinforce the Center’s role as the world’s gold-standard producer of health statistics.

March 26: AACN signed onto a CDC Coalition letter urging Congress to provide at least $11.581 billion for the CDC in FY 2025.

Nurses at the Table: Nominate a Nurse Today!

If you, or someone you know, has expertise or experience related to the opportunities below, please submit names and other information using this nomination form. This form will be updated as new opportunities arise.

Below are three federal opportunities that are currently open for nominations: 

• National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP) 
• Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines 
• Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation 

Please join us as we work to ensure more nurses are at the federal policy table! View the new webpage to learn more about the Consortium.

Federal Grants & Fellowships:

• National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship Program:

  • This program awards scholarships to students pursuing training or degrees for a primary care health profession. Applicants will commit to providing primary care health services in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and a minimum of 2 years of full-time service. Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives are eligible to apply. The deadline to apply is April 25, 2024. 

• HRSA Nursing Workforce Funding Opportunities: 

  • Join the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce to discuss the available funding opportunities to nursing students and graduate students, nurses looking to advance their careers, and nursing programs. The webinar will go over how to apply to these opportunities, any loan opportunities, and discuss the benefits of each program. The webinar will be Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at 2:30 PM (ET). Register here. 

• Health and Human Services Grant: American Indians into Nursing: 

  • The purpose of this grant is to recruit, retain, graduate, and increase the number of registered nurses, certified nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners who provide health care to American Indian and American Native communities. Private institutions of higher education and more are eligible to apply. The deadline to apply is May 14, 2024.  

• Strategies to Improve Health Outcomes and Advance Health Equity in Rural Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional): 

  • The purpose of this initiative is to support research to improve health and promote health equity in rural populations. Research should be able to develop, adapt, or implement strategies addressing social determinants of health. This includes a wide range of methodological approaches that enhance access, acceptability, and effectiveness of interventions in rural areas. The deadline to apply is May 17, 2024. 

• David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship: 

  • Through this program, fellows come to the nation’s capital for a year-long experience to learn about and participate in the health policy-making process from direct exposure to policymakers in both public and private sectors. The program also provides scholarships for master’s level students in health policy. The deadline to apply is October 18, 2024, at 5 PM (PT). 

Mark Your Calendar!

• National Nurses Week is May 6 – 12, 2024! This year’s theme is "Nurses Make the Difference." Stay tuned for more information as we move closer to May.

Additional Resources:

• Become an AACN Advocate!
• AACN’s State Sheets
• AACN’s National Snapshot
• Baccalaureate-Prepared Nurses are Essential to Quality Health Care
• Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs One-Pager
• Federal Policy Agenda
• Find your Representative
• Find your Senators
• AACN’s Social Media

Find other National and State Advocacy Resources here.

Need help testifying? Need additional materials? Have questions? Contact the Government Affairs and Policy team today!

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