Kaiser Permanente Health Equity Scholars Program Supports Students Pursuing Health Care Careers

ANTELOPE VALLEY, Calif. Kaiser Permanente in partnership with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the United Negro College Fund launched a national Health Equity Scholars Program. The grant provided by Kaiser Permanente enabled HSF and UNCF to award $1.26 million in scholarships to 252 high school seniors in 2021 in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C.

Kaiser Permanente Antelope Valley was able to promote these scholarship opportunities with our partners at the Antelope Valley Union High School District where 7 students were then chosen to receive awards for the 2021 -2022 school year. “In the long term, we believe these scholars will improve conditions for health in the communities we serve including the Antelope Valley and help innovate the health care system,” said Suzy Ghazarossian, Kaiser Permanente Antelope Valley Area Administrator.

“Grants and scholarships are powerful and preferable ways to ease financial burdens on low-income students,” said UNCF executive vice president of development Maurice Jenkins. “Even small scholarships that can cover immediate learning and living expenses can improve graduation rates and support students in their persistence throughout higher education.”

Student debt is a growing crisis in the United States, affecting people of all races and a broad range of income levels. However, the burden of debt is not carried equally across the nation. According to the Roosevelt Institute, between 2000 and 2018 the median student debt for white borrowers nearly doubled — from $12,000 to nearly $23,000. For Black borrowers, that number quadrupled, increasing from $7,000 to $30,000.

As debt looms, career path choices become more limited for students who need to make loan repayment a priority over pursuing a more purposeful career path. Those limited choices can have life-altering consequences.

“We believe that if we can help promising students emerge from colleges and universities with less debt, we can decrease the likelihood that they will suffer from the ensuing financial strain and accompanying chronic stress that can contribute to poor health,” said Bechara Choucair, MD, senior vice president and chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente.

Our Health Equity Scholars Program supports students with backgrounds that represent the country’s diversity in race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity. In addition, 71% of the recipients are first-generation college students. They bring their diverse perspectives to the colleges they attend and to the health care field they plan to enter.

In the Antelope Valley we start career exploration at an early age; supporting career fairs in partnership with our Elementary School Districts, conducting the Kaiser Permanente Hippocrates Circle physician mentoring program for middle school students, offering volunteer opportunities at Kaiser Permanente facilities for high school students and partnering with the Antelope Valley Union High School District and Antelope Valley College on our newest venture providing a Healthcare Simulation Lab mentoring program coming this summer.

The national scholarship program is one of the latest efforts we have supported to increase diversity across the health care field and bolster economic opportunity in the communities we serve. It follows announcements to provide paid fellowships to public health graduate students; our partnership with Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West to establish Futuro Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to growing the largest network of certified health care workers in the country; and our commitment to waive tuition for the first 5 classes entering the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve approximately 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to about.kp.org.