SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University’s College of Nursing has been awarded a $3.6 million grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services dedicated to improving access to health care services for people who are medically underserved. The grant is funded through HRSA’s Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention-Mobile Health Training Program.
The grant will allow graduate students in Seton Hall’s College of Nursing to engage in a semester-long clinical experience on the mobile health care units in different locations of Newark.
During the first year of the grant, 19 nurse practitioner students from the college’s adult-gerontology primary care, pediatric primary care and the new psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner programs will engage in this clinical experience, completing a range of 120 to 160 hours of clinical training in the mobile health care units. The official name for the project is “The Seton Hall University College of Nursing and the City of Newark’s Nurse-led Mobile Health Training Project.”
Upon completion of their practicum experience on the mobile health care units, students are eligible to receive a $10,000 stipend to offset costs of tuition, books, travel and other expenses. By the conclusion of the grant period in 2026, it is projected that 133 students will be afforded this opportunity.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for the College of Nursing and certainly a wonderful collaboration with the city of Newark, a medically underserved area,” College of Nursing Dean Marie Foley said. “This represents the epitome of how we educate our students — learning by doing — and supports the Seton Hall mission of servant leadership.”
This four-year project represents an innovative academic, practice and community partnership between the College of Nursing and the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness to provide the residents of Newark with increased opportunities for health and wellness and Seton Hall’s nurse practitioner students with the education, training and competencies to treat patients and better address the social determinants of health in Newark. The project is intended to strengthen the diversity, education and training of the nursing workforce and to provide culturally aligned quality care to vulnerable, medically underserved residents of Newark.
“We are excited to embark on this partnership with the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness,” said principal investigator for the grant Joyce L. Maglione, associate professor and program director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. “Not only will our students learn, support and grow their nurse practitioner skills, but also have the opportunity to contribute to a healthy environment for the residents of Newark.”
It is anticipated that the project will create a pipeline of nurse practitioners for the city of Newark and will serve as the foundation for a long-term collaboration between the College of Nursing and the Department of Health and Community Wellness.
“The College of Nursing is deeply committed to advancing health care to vulnerable populations and addressing health care disparities,” Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Kathleen Neville said. “This new grant expands our educational training in Newark to include health care services in adult and pediatric primary care and behavioral health, in addition to our current Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant, which provides clinical experiences in the city’s substance and opioid-use treatment centers.”
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