Health Career Connection, Inc.

Health Career Connection, Inc., (HCC) is a national nonprofit organization that provides undergraduate students from under-represented or disadvantaged backgrounds with internship placements at health care and public health organizations.

The participants recruited by HCC are commonly first-generation college students from low-income families and communities. In 2014, NYHealth awarded HCC a grant to match students with internship placements at organizations that fit their interests, including at the Foundation. The resulting experience was exceptional for both the students and hosting organizations, which led NYHealth to award HCC additional grants in 2015, 2016, and 2017. To continue support for this initiative, NYHealth awarded HCC a grant in 2018.

Under this grant, HCC matched six interns to organizations suited to their career interests in the health care or public health sector. NYHealth hosted one of the interns and placed four interns at Healthy Neighborhoods Fund sites in New York City that have the mentoring capacity and ability to make effective use of a high-performing intern. The sixth intern was placed at Metropolitan, an NYC Health + Hospitals provider site in East Harlem, one of our Healthy Neighborhoods Fund communities. During the 10-week internships, interns gained valuable, on-ground-experience and network with public health and health care professionals. HCC also provided the interns with support through its growing alumni and other professional networks.