Strong ecosystems of care require a workforce that reflects the community it serves, and that is equipped with the resources and support to deliver creative and collaborative care. Many of the best candidates for the complex care workforce, however, are impeded from starting a career in healthcare due to their own complex needs.

The Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) Pathways Program in Camden has designed and refined a blueprint to clear the way for community-based healthcare workforce development by emphasizing mentorship and wraparound services. The program — run in partnership with the Camden Coalition’s teaching and training staff and Community Ambassadors program, the Center For Family Services (CFS), Rutgers-Rowan Joint Board of Governors, Camden Community College, Camden City School District, Cooper University Health, and CAMCare — includes a year-long curriculum for community members to complete training and preparation toward CMA certification.

In only a few years, the program has evolved to increase the completion rate of participants from 66% in 2023 to 93% in 2025. The rate of participants to successfully gain CMA work after graduating from the program increased from 33% in 2023 to 50% in 2024 — with results still pending for the 2025 cohort.

Last week, the Camden Coalition hosted an hour-long webinar with stakeholders from the partnership behind the CMA program to discuss what it really takes to build a community-based workforce. The webinar panel was moderated by Victor Murray, Senior Director of Community Engagement & Capacity Building, and included:

• Eve Burdett, Community Ambassador, Camden Coalition

• Megan Lepore, Chief of Staff, Center For Family Services

• Corey Hoffmann, Director Programs and Partnerships, Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors

• Gladys Antelo Allen, Associate Director of Training and Education, Camden Coalition

Here are four takeaways from the webinar that organizations should consider when aiming to build their community-based workforce in the same vein as the CMA program.

Identify ideal opportunities for your community

The strategy to develop CMA professionals in Camden was deliberate, Corey explained on the webinar. With the city becoming home to an increasing number of healthcare institutions, there is a rising need for local medical assistants.

“Essentially, the healthcare institutions that we work with can’t fill these roles fast enough,” Corey said. “Another reason why we train specifically for the certified medical assistant [role] is that we see it as just a great entry point for anyone that’s interested in healthcare.”

Certified medical assistants require both clinical and administrative skillsets, making the profession a valuable position from which generally younger, entry-level employees may begin to explore vast career paths in healthcare.

The CMA program is a 10-month, three-part engagement that provides students 22 college credits, work experience, a peer coach, wraparound services, and preparation toward their CMA certification exam. The typical demographic of students are post-high school individuals who have an interest in healthcare but may not have the capability nor interest in a traditional two- or four-year college degree program.

“We often attract students who have a real need or a desire to get into the workforce, start earning and kind of figure it out from there,” Corey said.

The first part of the program, the Summer Bridge session, is a six-week transition from high school to professional healthcare work. Students are compensated $15 an hour for three days per week during the bridge session, participating in career planning, academic preparation, and professional development courses from partners such as CFS. They’re also receiving Skills Lab training courtesy of the Camden Coalition in their curriculum — rounding out the combination of clinical and administrative skills their work as a CMA will require.

“We’re also introducing students to different healthcare career pathways that they might consider pursuing beyond the certified medical assistant position. So, we’ll bring in nurses, clinical researchers, healthcare administrators, or community health workers. And they’ll talk to students about their pathway, what their job looks like, and how they might be able to navigate from working as a CMA into some of these other career pathways,” Corey said.

Organizations seeking to develop their community-based workforce should consider what their target demographic may look like — and what opportunities are more apparent for them in the field.

Address student needs in real time

Before the second segment of the CMA program — which is enrolling in the 720-hour accredited program at Camden County College — students undergo an intake process with CFS to identify wraparound services and support they individually need to complete the courseload. It has been over the span of multiple cohorts throughout the years that the program leaders have identified layers of support required by Camden-based students in order to reach their CMA certification. For example, students without transportation may be given a monthly bus pass; those with car may receive a gas card; those who neither lived or a bus route nor had a car received ride share funding.

“In the field of social work, we use the term, ‘person and environment’,” Victor said. “What are all the things that are happening in their environment that can either support their success, or in some ways make their success difficult?”

The introduction of individual coaches to students near the end of the Summer Bridge session creates the opportunity for real-time feedback on challenges and circumstances that may hinder students from reaching their certification. The CMA program team takes earnest steps to seek out and address student concerns as soon as they are known. It’s common for health and social service programs based in Camden to face issues with retention and participation, especially among the younger population, Megan said. The opportunities inherent with the CMA program — a localized career pathway that benefits the community and fosters health and wellness growth — warrants more assurance that students are not impeded from reaching the end. Beyond transportation, students often need help with their housing, food security, or assistance caring for their children or younger siblings. Not all these issues are apparent at the beginning of the program.

“Sometimes things are great at the beginning and it’s toward the middle when it starts to crumble,” Megan said. “We might be seeing cracks and fissures in attendance or attention in the seats is waning. [It’s critical to] have an open line of communication with the Joint Board to be able to connect and problem-solve in the moment.”

Keep students engaged with relatable, dependable coaches

Prior to beginning classes at Camden County College, students are introduced to their program coaches: members of the Coalition’s Community Ambassadors program who provide monthly one-on-one meetings to review their work, discuss challenges, and develop their professional confidence.

A key component of the CMA program is that these coaches are highly representative of the community the students come from.

“As a group, we know everyone who’s going to be in front of the classroom and everyone who is going to be one-on-one with the participants,” Megan said. “If our team isn’t relatable, and not going to put that human experience first, we’re kind of already behind the eight ball.”

In her role as a coach, Eve said she prioritizes patience with students — allowing them space to learn that they are leading the process, while coaches are providing the push and support.

“My role as a coach basically was to be side-by-side and go through the program with them,” Eve said. “I had to feel like I had to take myself out of my shoes, put myself in their shoes, and basically build an authentic relationship between these students and just walk through the program with them.”

That authentic relationship is critical toward the continued improvement of the program, Gladys said: it’s only when students truly trust their coaches that they become more transparent about their thoughts, challenges, and ideas.

“We ask what they’ve learned, how supported they feel, what could change for them in the future,” Gladys said. “Sometimes those hard truths, they make sure they lay it out for us — which without those, we wouldn’t have the strong partnerships that we have now, and we wouldn’t be learning how to improve.”

Provide coaches a dynamic playbook

Just as the students are given a dimensional education into becoming a CMA, their coaches are provided a dynamic training. Gladys explained that the program coaches are provided the Coalition’s Complex Care Certificate courses relevant to their roles, including training on motivational interviewing, building authentic healing relationships, and more.

“We have an opportunity to also dissect and explore case-based challenges amongst the coaching group,” Gladys said. “And after each cohort, we also hold debrief sessions with our coaches and our staff to really discuss what’s working, where do we need to pivot? Again, this program continues to evolve over the years the more that we’re learning with every cohort.”

As the students conclude their CMA courses, they receive an opportunity to learn the job firsthand: the third and final program component is a six-to-eight-week externship, shadowing CMAs at a local organization.

By the time the annual cohort is preparing for their CMA exams in April, they had received countless iterations of technical support, wraparound services, opportunities for feedback, and reassurance that success informed by their individual needs is the program’s priority. On paper, the program’s increasing success rate is indicative of a successful community-based partnership; in context, the CMA program is always evolving and adapting to help the individual. This is the unique ingredient that makes the difference in building a community-based workforce.