Wolfson Foundation donates $11 million to Miami Dade College nursing school

MIAMI In order to address a shortage of working nurses and those entering the market which is affecting the Miami area as well as clinics and hospitals nationwide, the Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Foundation has made a contribution of almost $11 million to the Miami Dade College nursing program.

The Wolfson Foundation’s donation to Miami Dade College will help pay for instructional costs, faculty salaries and technology upgrades in order to increase student retention and success rates, the foundation has said. Some of the monies will also go to  exam preparation to help students pass their boards.

“Our community is in desperate need of qualified nurses,” saidLouis Wolfson III, a trustee of the Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Foundation and a member of the Miami Dade College Foundation Board of Directors. “It is our goal, indeed our wish, to train local residents for these positions, so that employers do not have to recruit outside the region. By doing this, we will help resolve a crisis and open these great paying jobs to people who call Miami-Dade County their home.”

MDC and the Wolfson Foundation are hopeful that the recent gift of funds will encourage and assist about 600 nurses to enter the marker over the course of the next four years.