Cook County part of $5 million Pritzker-funded coalition to train health workers at Provident and City Colleges

Presenters told the Cook County Health and Hospitals Committee on Feb. 3 that Cook County Health and City Colleges of Chicago will co-lead Health Catalyst Chicago, a coalition that won a $5 million Pritzker Traubert Foundation award to expand training pipelines into health-care jobs. The collaboration includes UChicago Medicine and will use Provident Hospital as a teaching site and hub for classroom and clinical externship work.

The presenters said the grant will fund instructor-led training for roles including medical assistants, medical technicians and phlebotomists and that students will complete classroom instruction followed by externships at Cook County Health clinics and on-the-job training inside the health system. The first official cohort is scheduled to begin in January 2027; the presenters said an initial pilot of externships will run in summer 2026.

Officials estimated the program could reduce agency staffing costs by roughly $1 million annually and help Cook County Health recruit staff from the communities it serves. The first cohort was described as modest in size — roughly 25–30 students — with plans to scale once processes are refined and clinical rotations are established.

Commissioners asked how students will be selected and whether the grant prioritizes underserved Cook County ZIP codes. Presenters said equity criteria will prioritize students from underserved ZIP codes and that they would report back with specific ZIP-code lists and selection details in follow-up communications.

What’s next: working groups and an executive-level implementation team were reported to be meeting now; the county will pilot externships this summer and launch the full Providence cohort in January 2027.