About the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center and Advisory Board

The Illinois Nursing Workforce Center (INWC) was established in 2006 as part of an overall strategy to produce more highly-skilled nursing professionals to meet the health care needs in Illinois. The original name was “Illinois Center for Nursing”. January 1, 2017 the name was changed to “Illinois Nursing Workforce Center” which better reflects the work of this board, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
 

The Illinois Nursing Workforce Center will work with industry professionals and educational institutions to ensure that Illinois has the nursing workforce necessary to meet the demands of a growing and aging population. The Nursing Workforce Center Advisory Board will carefully examine the current demand for nurses, the number of nurses our educational system is producing, the rate of nurses retiring, and the needs of the overall nursing workforce to better understand the state of the nursing shortage in Illinois. The Nursing Workforce Center will also develop strategic initiatives to recruit new nurses, offer ongoing training to practicing nurses to ensure constant skill development, retain nursing professionals currently practicing, and promote excellence in nursing education.
 

The mission of the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center is to advocate and ensure for the appropriate nursing resources necessary to meet the healthcare needs of the citizens of Illinois.
 

The Illinois Nursing Workforce Center will be a state of the art workforce center that will provide necessary and informative resources, long range planning and policy development, excellence in nursing service and education, and serve as a best practice model.
 

The Board serves as an advisory body for the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center (INWC), and has the following responsibilities:

• The Nursing Workforce Center Advisory Board represents a wide variety of expertise, including nursing practice, research, education and administration. About the Advisory Board

• Develop a strategic plan for nursing manpower in Illinois.

• Maintain a database on nursing supply and demand in Illinois.

• Select priority issue areas within the nursing profession for the INWC to address.

• Convene groups of stakeholders to recommend strategies and systemic changes within the nursing workforce.

• Enhance and promote recognition, reward, and renewal activities for nurses.

• Identify outside funding opportunities to achieve the objectives of the INWC.

• Assist in establishing programs to offer grants, scholarships and internships.