Dwyer Workforce Development will expand into East Baltimore with plans to create a health care village that will put child care, job training and housing all in one place.
The Baltimore nonprofit announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Southern Baptist Church on Wednesday to build a Dwyer resource center at the Southern Streams health care development in East Baltimore. Dwyer will open a center inside of the Mary Harvin Transformation Center at 1600 N. Chester Street to help people become certified nursing assistants (CNAs) by the end of the month, before eventually moving into the upcoming 120,000-square-foot Southern Streams Health and Wellness Center at 1501 N. Chester St.
The around 3,000-square-foot resource center will provide computers for people taking online classes and host classes for Dwyer participants ranging from financial literacy to personal safety. The Dwyer Scholar program blends a job training program for CNAs with housing and other social services in an attempt to fix the nursing staffing crisis and provide upward mobility for people. A report by the Maryland Hospital Association released last year found that one in four hospital nursing positions in the state were vacant.