SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Doris Turner helped secure over $70,000 in funding heading to St. John's College of Nursing to help increase the number of professional nurses in Illinois.

“We are lucky to have an exceptional nursing school here in Springfield,” said Turner (D-Springfield). “By investing in our health care workforce, we are addressing the nursing shortage head on. We are taking action to ensure better health care access for all.”

The Illinois Board of Higher Education awarded a total of $70,670 through a nursing school grant to St. John’s College of Nursing. The grant was awarded through a competitive application process where institutions submitted enrollment, retention, completion and job placement rates of their students during a multi-year period and how grant funds would be used to enhance their program’s efforts to close equity gaps and improve student success.

Nursing school grants will be used to enhance nursing programs and efforts to close equity gaps in enrollment, course completion, graduation and licensure by underrepresented students. Funds may be used for hiring additional nursing faculty and staff, developing and expanding instructional programs and modalities, expanding academic support services, improving classroom and lab spaces, purchasing equipment and instructional materials and more.

To see a full list of nursing school grant awardees across the state, click here.