On April 15, Governor Chris Sununu issued the following statement after the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee voted to accept and expend a $2.6M ARPA-funded expansion of the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) licensed practical nurse (LPN) training program.

“To make investments into our economy, we must make necessary investments into our workforce – and doubling our LPN nursing program is the right move,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “We remain committed to meeting the needs of our health care system and I commend the Fiscal Committee for approving our request so that we can continue our forward momentum.”

The investment increases the healthcare workforce pipeline by doubling the State’s LPN workforce programming to meet critical needs in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare settings.

The Community College System of New Hampshire LPN training program was first launched in 2020 at River Valley Community College in Claremont and subsequently expanded to Laconia and Littleton. The program can be completed within one year of study and provides immediate entry into the LPN level of nursing workforce. The program also provides LPN graduates with an opportunity to continue their education and progress to the RN level, thus providing a steady pipeline of LPNs and career ladders to meet the needs that also exist in New Hampshire for RN-level nurses.

Today’s expansion of the LPN program follows Governor Chris Sununu’s successful efforts to expand nursing across New Hampshire. In 2019, the state committed $9 million to double the amount of RN nurses at UNH, and last year, Governor Chris Sununu cut the ribbon on UNH’s new state-of-the-art Health Sciences Simulation Center, which will allow UNH to “expand programs to address the critical health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire,” and “double the number of graduates in nursing and other clinical disciplines.”