JULY 21, 2026

Goodman Philanthropies Awards $400,000 Grant to UW Health WorkForward to help health systems strengthen and scale workforce pipelines through more “earn and learn” pathways

Madison, WI — Goodman Philanthropies is pleased to announce a $400,000 grant to UW Health WorkForward, a new national nonprofit launched by UW Health and the first employer-led intermediary in healthcare — an organization built to help health systems strengthen and scale workforce pipelines from within. As a founding funder, Goodman Philanthropies is supporting WorkForward's founding implementation phase: the launch year in which it builds the infrastructure to help health systems across the country develop, advance, and retain their own talent.

WorkForward was born inside UW Health, the academic medical center and health system for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and one of Wisconsin's largest employers, where for more than a decade workforce development was run as core clinical strategy rather than a standalone HR program. Today UW Health operates one of the largest employer-embedded healthcare apprenticeship models in the nation, and the results speak for themselves: more than 1,200 apprentices trained — 1,000+ adults and 250+ youth — with 95% completion rates and nearly 100% of completers moving directly into roles at UW Health. WorkForward, led by Executive Director Dr. Bridgett Willey, now translates that proven model into shared national infrastructure — implementation playbooks, employer learning networks, technical assistance, and workforce data systems — so health systems everywhere can grow talent from within.

What sets WorkForward apart is the shape of the ladder it builds: clear, debt-free pathways into licensed healthcare fields — family-sustaining careers that have traditionally required stepping out of the workforce and taking on debt to reach. WorkForward embeds training inside real clinical jobs, with wages and benefits from day one and pathways aligned to actual employer demand, so workers never have to choose between earning a paycheck and advancing a career.

“We spent more than a decade proving inside UW Health that a health system can grow the workforce it needs — and that apprentices thrive when learning comes with a paycheck instead of a loan. Goodman Philanthropies’ founding support enables us to not only bring our model to other health systems, but also to advance the policy, research, and national collaboration needed to make employer-led healthcare workforce innovation scalable nationwide.”

— Dr. Bridgett Willey, Executive Director, UW Health WorkForward

About UW Health WorkForward

UW Health WorkForward is a national, employer-led intermediary that connects healthcare employers, education, and policy to grow talent from within — through youth and adult “earn and learn” pathways that strengthen careers, organizations, and communities. Rather than functioning as a policy center or demonstration program, WorkForward provides the operational infrastructure health systems need to redesign how talent is developed, advanced, and retained. Its work rests on four pillars: technical assistance and consulting to design, implement, and scale work-integrated learning pathways aligned to real clinical demand; research and insights that translate real-world outcomes into tools, data, and proven models; state and federal policy leadership to align funding, regulation, and policy at scale; and a national health talent innovation network convening employers, educators, and funders to drive collective impact. Its five-year vision: implementation partnerships across 10+ states and regions, 50+ health system partners, and more than 25,000 individuals entering or advancing in healthcare careers.

Why did Goodman Philanthropies invest?

Earn-and-learn healthcare pathways are among the most direct economic mobility ladders available anywhere: a worker can start as a certified nursing assistant, enter a paid apprenticeship, earn a nursing degree while drawing full wages and benefits, and advance into a registered-nurse role — all without student debt. Yet although healthcare is now the nation's largest employment sector, it accounts for only about 5% of registered apprenticeships. Unlike training programs that prepare people for jobs and hope the jobs materialize, WorkForward builds pathways backwards from real employer demand — which is why its completers don't just finish, they get hired. That is the model we want to see spread.

Healthcare does not lack workforce innovation; it lacks the operational capacity to implement workforce transformation at scale. Health systems increasingly recognize that existing workforce models are unsustainable, yet few possess the implementation muscle to redesign workforce development inside complex clinical environments, where staffing models, education pathways, patient care, and finance must all function together. WorkForward was created to close that implementation gap, and philanthropy has a uniquely catalytic role to play in moving the field beyond isolated pilots toward scalable, shared infrastructure.

Just as important, this is a proven model, not a promising theory. Dr. Willey built these pathways inside UW Health across nursing and allied-health roles over more than a decade, achieving completion and employment outcomes that most workforce programs only aspire to. Consider one learner's journey: Brianna's path began with a UW Health HOPE field trip in 8th grade. In high school she became a CNA Youth Apprentice on the trauma unit, then graduated straight into UW Health's RN Registered Apprenticeship — which pays full wages and benefits and covers her nursing degree. She is now on a debt-free path to becoming a registered nurse. Making journeys like Brianna's ordinary, in health systems across the country, is exactly what this grant is built to scale.

What drew us to WorkForward is that it removes the oldest tradeoff in working life: choosing between a paycheck today and a career tomorrow. UW Health has already proven the ladder works — apprentices earning full wages while they train, finishing debt-free, and stepping straight into licensed careers. Our grant is a bet that every health system in America can build that same ladder.”

— Pam Harder, Executive Director, Goodman Philanthropies

Goodman Philanthropies’ $400,000 grant is a one-time commitment to WorkForward's founding implementation phase, supporting national implementation capacity, multi-state employer partnerships, technical-assistance infrastructure, shared workforce data and evaluation systems, and open-access implementation playbooks. We will track the investment against key performance indicators agreed upon over the first twelve months, and will weigh future funding based on early traction and results — including WorkForward's progress toward a sustainable revenue model in which health systems and states pay for its implementation expertise. Backing a proven, employer-embedded model at the moment it goes national is precisely the kind of early, high-leverage bet our U.S. economic mobility strategy is built to make.

What outcomes are we expecting to see in the next year?

• Launch of national implementation capacity, including the core team and technical-assistance infrastructure to serve health systems beyond Wisconsin

• Establishment of initial multi-state employer partnerships and employer learning collaboratives

• Publication of the first open-access implementation playbooks to accelerate national adoption of earn-and-learn healthcare pathways

• Establishment of shared workforce data and evaluation systems to measure completion, employment, retention, and reduced reliance on contract labor

• Meaningful progress toward a sustainable revenue model in which various organizations, including both public and private entities, pay for WorkForward’s implementation support.

About Goodman Philanthropies

Goodman Philanthropies supports innovative, evidence-based solutions that expand economic mobility across the United States. We prioritize approaches that combine rigor, innovation, and scale to move the needle on poverty and opportunity. Our work is generously funded by Bennett & Meg Goodman, who, alongside their children Jared, Alex, and Julia, are committed to dismantling barriers to upward mobility through strategic, impact-driven philanthropy. To learn more about our work and our portfolio of grants, visit www.goodmanphilanthropies.org.