PHI is working to improve the quality of eldercare and disability services by improving the jobs of direct-care workers.

Grantee Profile

At the heart of the work of PHI (formerly the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute) is the notion of Quality Care through Quality Jobs, or a system of long-term care in this country that balances creating decent jobs for low-income individuals with providing high-quality care to the elderly, ill, or disabled. PHI places a special emphasis on hiring women who are unemployed or transitioning from welfare to work, and seeks through all its programs to develop models that can be replicated nationwide in the direct care field. With an annual budget of $8.2 million and a staff of 40, PHI assists employers, consumer groups, labor organizations, policymakers, and educators to foster understanding of workforce issues and develop solutions to sustaining a respectful and robust direct-care system.

About Our Grants

The Foundation’s 2011 grant is the third installment of a three-year, $375,000 effort to expand PHI’s communications capacity following the organization’s participation in the Foundation’s BeHeard communications initiative. PHI will also use Woodcock funds to develop an online training curriculum for direct-care workers in response to growing demand from healthcare workers, clients, and employees. With recent expansive growth in the home health care sector, PHI’s online training presence will be a valuable resource for reaching and assisting a much greater number of home health care workers. The Foundation has also approved a three-year, $500,000 core support grant beginning in September 2012, to further support PHI’s communications capacity, promote its online training presence, and thoughtfully transition PHI’s leadership. The economic downturn has been challenging for both direct-care workers and the low-income elders and people with disabilities that they support, and Woodcock’s investment is helping PHI to respond at a critical time.