Twenty-five years ago, the founders of the Medical Career Collaborative (MC²) recognized the importance of having a healthcare workforce that better reflected the communities living, working, and playing in the Denver metro area. In 1999 Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO) made the bold choice to help change the face of our healthcare workforce by investing in youth from our community. With that goal in mind, Children’s Colorado entered into a partnership with a local Denver high school and MC² was born.
Within a few years of the program’s inception, MC² became a hospital-led initiative and went from serving students from just one school to serving students throughout the Denver metro area.
2015 marked another major milestone for MC². 16 years after the start of the program, MC² celebrated its first expansion outside the Children’s Colorado system, welcoming Denver Health to the MC² family. This new expansion has allowed MC² to have an even greater geographic reach in the metro area and has created an opportunity for students to gain valuable experience and exposure to a safety net hospital system. In 2023, MC² expanded once again but this time in Colorado Springs! Children’s Hospital Colorado - Colorado Springs, welcomed its first class of students in January 2024, opening the program to interested youth living in and around the Colorado Springs area.
What is the Program & Who Does it Impact?
With a mission to provide youth from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds the opportunity to gain experience and exposure to the world of healthcare and access to ongoing support in their pursuit of healthcare professions, MC² has intentionally designed its programming in support of that mission.
Programming highlights include:
● Paid internships at Children’s Colorado or Denver Health
● Mentorship with healthcare professionals and program staff
● Participation in health-related field trips, workshops, and trainings
● Access to health care certification programs
● Individualized college and career coaching
● Professional development and networking opportunities
From paid internships and mentorship to certification opportunities and career coaching, MC² broadens students’ horizons and builds a strong foundation for a future career in healthcare.
What Does 25 Years Mean?
Over the past 25 years, MC² has been making a difference in the lives of students, alumni, the hospitals in which the programs operate, and the communities in which our program alumni now work.
MC² has served over 750 students throughout the years and we could not be more pleased to report that we have welcomed more than 164 alumni back as employees at Children’s Colorado and Denver Health as nurses, doctors, advanced practice providers, researchers, laboratory scientists, public health professionals, medical interpreters, technicians and more!
What Will Your Support Do?
Your gift makes the work of MC² possible. With your support you can help us build and support the next generation of healthcare professionals, one student and one alum at a time.
To learn more about the MC² program and to hear what students are saying, visit the MC2 site atCHCO orDenver Health.