College of the Redwoods, Cal Poly Humboldt partnership graduates first nurses

The first nurses are coming out of the College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt pathway, and Humboldt County will measure the result in filled shifts, not ceremony photos. The question now is whether this local route into nursing can keep more graduates in the county as hospitals, clinics and long-term care providers continue to struggle with vacancies.

The program is the North Coast Concurrent Enrollment pathway, a concurrent ADN-to-BSN model built so College of the Redwoods nursing students can move into Cal Poly Humboldt without leaving the region. College of the Redwoods’ handbook says the pathway was created in response to the Institute of Medicine goal of increasing the share of BSN-prepared nurses to 80% by 2020. It is designed to be streamlined and efficient, with most coursework delivered online in an asynchronous hybrid format and one-day intensives held twice each semester. Students must complete the ADN, pass the NCLEX-RN exam and then continue in the CSU program to finish the BSN.

The partnership is not starting from scratch. College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt formalized a broader collaboration after a historic summit in fall 2019, setting up a memorandum of understanding that covered joint academic programs, admissions, athletics, housing and campus safety. Their shared work has since extended beyond nursing, and the institutions say the relationship has already produced 2,500 shared graduates on the North Coast. Since 2010-11, 2,077 College of the Redwoods students have transferred to Humboldt, and 1,771 of those transfers have graduated from Humboldt.

For nursing students, the payoff is speed and proximity. Cal Poly Humboldt said the program welcomed 45 BSN students in one cohort, including 12 dually enrolled College of the Redwoods students, and those students would have only two semesters left after earning the ADN to complete the BSN. The university also says its BSN graduates are eligible for Public Health Nurse certification, giving the pathway a broader public health role in a region where rural care access is limited and travel to major medical centers is not simple.

The pressure behind the pipeline is severe. Local and state workforce reporting has put Humboldt County’s nurse shortage at roughly 290 openings now, with a projected need of 444 by 2030. Across the North Coast, the shortfall has been reported at more than 1,000 nurses. That makes this partnership more than an education story: it is a test of whether CR and Cal Poly Humboldt can help hospitals and clinics in Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, Crescent City and beyond recruit from their own backyard.

In 2022, leaders announced a $10 million health education hub to support nursing and other health training on the North Coast. The new nursing pathway is one of the clearest signs yet that the region is trying to build its own workforce instead of waiting for it to arrive from somewhere else.