“HealthLink” initiative connects high school classrooms to healthcare careers through paid internships, training and job-ready credentials.

OAKLAND, Calif. – A new Sutter Health investment will significantly strengthen healthcare workforce development efforts supporting current Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) students and recent graduates. The funding will target a critical need to expand access to career pathways in healthcare while addressing workforce needs in the Bay Area.  

The $500,000 community health investment will go to OUSD’s Linked Learning Pathways to create HealthLink, a program focused on building pathways into healthcare careers through paid internships, hands-on experiences and career training programs.

“This investment is about growing the healthcare workforce from within the community we serve,” said Trevor Brand, CEO of Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. “By creating a clear pathway from the classroom to hands-on experience to certification and a career, we’re showing Oakland students that a future in healthcare is attainable. We’re proud to partner with OUSD and the Oakland Public Education Fund to remove barriers, expand opportunity and support community well-being.”

“Education is a cornerstone of our city’s success, and OUSD is laser-focused on providing a world-class education to all Oakland students,” said Superintendent Dr. Denise Saddler. “As Superintendent, I’m proud to celebrate our collaboration with Sutter Health that resulted in this remarkable grant for our Linked Learning Pathways. These funds will help us ensure our students can start laying the foundation now for careers that will carry them throughout their professional lives.”

For current students, Sutter’s funding will create meaningful early exposure to healthcare careers through paid internship opportunities and healthcare-focused field trips. These experiences will allow students to engage directly with healthcare professionals, explore a variety of clinical and non-clinical roles and build foundational skills for future healthcare careers. By providing paid opportunities, this initiative also helps reduce financial barriers that often limit student participation in career exploration programs.

For recent graduates, the investment will support multiple components of OUSD’s Highway to Work Program, which provides structured, career-aligned training pathways. Specifically, the new funds will support students enrolled in Emergency Department Technician (ED Tech), Emergency Medical Technician with phlebotomy (EMT with phlebotomy) and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) programs.

Current students and recent graduates in OUSD’s Highway to Work Program will receive free training and materials, stipends, case management and access to hands-on clinical experiences—all of which are critical for successful program completion and certification. Together, these efforts are designed to create a seamless pathway from early exposure in high school to industry-recognized credentials and employment opportunities after graduation. By investing in current students and recent graduates, Sutter is helping build a more diverse, skilled and locally rooted healthcare workforce, while also improving long-term health and economic outcomes within the community.

Sutter Health’s investment expands on the Oakland Public Education Fund’s (the Ed Fund) TechLink and ConstructionLink programs. These initiatives are aligned with Linked Learning career pathways at six OUSD high schools and are designed to help students build skills and pursue college, career and community success.

“I am incredibly grateful to Sutter Health for this generous grant, which represents a significant investment in our youth and a true game changer for the entire Bay Area,” said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee. “By providing thousands of local students with exceptional training opportunities, we are building a skilled healthcare workforce rooted right here in Oakland.”

OUSD’s Linked Learning brings career and college preparation into a single cohesive curriculum approach. This ensures that every student has access to college prep courses, career-embedded instruction, internships and the opportunity for dual enrollment in community college.

“Linked Learning is how we do high school in Oakland,” said Rebecca Lacocque, OUSD’s Director of Linked Learning. “It’s how we’ve done it since 2015, and our graduation rates have improved by 10 percentage points. Cross-sector collaboration is foundational to Linked Learning, and we are grateful and excited to work with Sutter Health for this next chapter of our high school improvement work. Linked Learning is designed to improve outcomes for our students through partnerships that simultaneously benefit the city and region.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the first Oakland Education Summit on May 19 hosted by the Ed Fund and OUSD at The California Endowment. The summit brought cross-sector leaders together to discuss strategies that strengthen pathways from education to economic opportunity for Oakland’s young people.

In addition to participation from Sutter Health, the summit showcased public-private partnerships between the district and GCI Construction, Salesforce and Kapor Foundation. OUSD Superintendent Dr. Denise Saddler was joined by California Department of Education Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Ingrid Roberson and Deputy City Administrator Sofia Navarro to discuss Oakland’s workforce needs and the role of education in economic mobility.

“Philanthropy has such a critical role right now because you really can step in and help create that bridge funding so that [the district] can stay committed to its values and its identity and who we’re trying to center at the end of the day, which is our students,” said Dr. Ingrid Roberson.The summit also included a discussion on the expanding STEM, Computer Science and AI curriculum and closed with a conversation on educator support with Lisa Rothbard, OUSD New Teacher Support & Development Director and Alicia Parise, Director of Programs at the Ed Fund. Together, they are looking for a philanthropic partner to expand the A to Z Fund to cover credentialing costs for new teachers in Oakland.

“Getting your credential while you are learning how to manage a classroom, while you are just deep, deep, deep in that daily grind of having to show up every single day…that stackable stress is very real,” said Lisa Rothbard. According to recent studies, as many as 90 percent of teachers in the U.S. pay out of pocket for basic supplies needed to bring their lessons to life. For this reason, the Ed Fund launched the New Teacher Supply Fund in 2024 and has distributed nearly $75,000 to 200 new teachers to cover the costs of school supplies as they build their classrooms.