Healthcare Sector Partnership Fuels Additional Training, Streamlines Workforce Onramp

July 29, 2026

AUGUSTA, ME — A new partnership among Maine’s healthcare industry leaders, Maine’s community colleges, and education and workforce organizations is expanding short-term healthcare training opportunities in Maine and helping fill chronic frontline staffing shortages in healthcare settings across the state.

“Maine’s healthcare system is strained. Rural hospitals are closing units, our population is aging faster than almost any other state, and the workforce caring for our most vulnerable Mainers is stretched thin,” said Maine Community College System (MCCS) Chief Workforce Development Officer Dan Belyea. “Long-term solutions are only possible if we work together.”

Belyea leads the system’s Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce, which coordinates all short-term workforce training programs for Maine’s community colleges. The Alfond Center is launching a series of sector-based partnerships as part of a bold five-year plan to train 100,000 Mainers by 2030. The first partnership was in the construction sector, and manufacturing is next.

The Healthcare Industry Workforce Partnership has 50 members. Like the other partnerships, it has steering committees and action teams that co-create short-term, skills-focused training aligned to real hiring needs.

“Sector-based partnerships like these are key to solving Maine’s workforce challenges,” said Liz Love, director of sector partnerships at the Alfond Center. “Together we’re designing industry-led training solutions that provide relevant skills, fill in-demand roles, and offer pathways to meaningful careers.”

Maine’s community colleges have been training the state’s healthcare workers for decades, offering two-year associate degrees and one-year certificate programs in dozens of fields, from nursing and emergency medical services to surgical technicians, radiology technicians, and other licensed clinicians. In recent years, the system has vastly expanded short-term programs that take only a matter of weeks or months to complete, and can move a newly skilled worker into an entry-level healthcare role even faster.

Among the new short-term training programs available in 2026-27 under this partnership are enhanced medial assisting; language and work readiness pathways; pre-apprenticeships; and more advanced emergency medical technician (EMT) opportunities.

Short-term programs are typically offered at no cost to students, with some including stipends, and are designed for people entering the workforce, people changing their careers, and incumbent workers looking to add new skills and advance in their field.

Healthcare is the system’s most popular academic program area, with the trades a close second. Last fall, 3,563 students were enrolled in degree and certificate healthcare programs, a 78% increase since 2019. Over the same time frame, MCCS vastly expanded short-term offerings, and more than 8,000 students have taken short-term healthcare training programs since 2021.

The partnership includes healthcare systems; hospitals; healthcare associations; Maine’s seven community colleges; and statewide education and workforce partners. A full list of partners is here.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to collaborate with colleagues across the healthcare and education sectors through Maine,” said Melissa McManus, director of workforce development at MaineHealth. Participating has “enabled MaineHealth to help influence the development of critical training programs. By supporting initiatives like this, we are creating pathways for career growth while advancing our visions of building the healthiest communities in America.”