The executive office of health and human services is hereby directed to establish the ladders to licensure grant program, a public-private partnership to:
(1) Increase the number of licensed health professionals;
(2) Increase racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of health professionals;
(3) Provide academic, financial, and wrap around supports to enable working adults to obtain health professional higher education degrees and license;
(4) Leverage employer support for academic, financial, and wraparound supports;
(5) Align with existing state workforce and higher education initiatives;
(6) Develop and implement career ladders with tiered training and education requirements and corresponding salary increases;
(7) Develop and implement interscholastic and interdepartmental agreements that accept prior learning, credentials, work experience, and academic credits towards requirements for higher education health professional degrees;
(8) Establish policies and initiatives to counter systemic racism and other institutional barriers to participation and advancement of underrepresented populations;
(9) Establish policies and initiatives that provide flexible scheduling of work hours and/or academic programs to reduce barriers to participation; and
(10) Identify state policy barriers to entry and advancement in the field.