LaGuardia Community College Invites Internationally Trained Nurses to Apply for Program to Enter U.S. Healthcare Sector
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (December 18, 2024) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY invites internationally trained nurses living in New York City to apply for the NYC Welcome Back Center. This tuition-free program helps nurses transition into the U.S. healthcare sector as Registered Nurses (RNs). Students take classes to improve their English language skills and prepare for the national licensing exam (NCLEX-RN) that Registered Nurses in the U.S. must pass. The next cohort begins in February 2025.
“The NYC Welcome Back Center, part of Continuing Education at LaGuardia, meets the city’s demand for a culturally and linguistically diverse workforce,” said Sunil B. Gupta, Vice President of Continuing Education at LaGuardia. “It helps skilled immigrant professionals overcome credentialing and language barriers, enabling them to contribute their talents to the NYC workforce where they are in-demand.”
Through a partnership between Continuing Education and the Health Sciences Department, classes are team-taught by ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) instructors and faculty from LaGuardia’s top-ranked Nursing Program. This Integrated Education and Training (IET) model allows students to develop their English skills while refreshing their nursing knowledge and comparing the U.S. healthcare workplace to their home countries.
To accommodate working students, classes are held at night (Monday to Thursday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Students receive case management, support services, and referrals to educational, community and professional programs and organizations.
The NYC Welcome Back Center is provided tuition-free and open to New York State residents authorized to work in the U.S. Some programs may require proof of New York City residency.
The Welcome Back Center has helped people like Mamata Dhakal (pictured with her parents at right), a nurse from Nepal, become a Registered Nurse in the U.S. Upon moving to the U.S. in 2007, Mamata worked as a college assistant, babysitter and private tutor. She longed to join NYC’s healthcare workforce. She came to LaGuardia where she improved her English language skills and enrolled in the NYC Welcome Back Center. Mamata completed the course, passed the NCLEX-RN, and started a Registered Nursing job.
“LaGuardia has helped me in each and every moment to learn English, earn a degree and become a Registered Nurse,” said Mamata.
Learn more about the Welcome Back Center and eligibility here. Interested applicants should fill out the online form. The application deadline for the upcoming Winter Cohort is January 31, 2025.
With questions, visit LaGuardia’s NYC Welcome Back Center webpage, email nycwbc@lagcc.cuny.edu, or call (718) 482-5460. The office, located in LaGuardia’s C-Building Room C-239, 29-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, is open for walk-in visits Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The NYC Welcome Back Center is part of LaGuardia’s Center for Immigrant Education and Training (CIET), which has helped over thousands of recent immigrants and their families improve their English language skills and get trained for job opportunities since its founding more than two decades ago.
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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
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