Opening Pathways to Professionalism for Underrepresented Young Women

The convergence of three factors catalyzed the preparation of a pilot grant application to a women's philanthropic organization to address a critical educational and workforce insufficiency in the State of Tennessee. The urgent need for educating more medical laboratory professionals was recognized first. Second, the economic recession of 2008 had a crushing and disproportionately negative impact upon employment of minorities in the Memphis Metropolitan region. Third, Tennessee had a serious paucity of college-educated young adults. The authors describe a program that helped underrepresented young women find a pathway to professionalism as medical laboratory scientists and suggest how proactive educators can contribute to an essential professional workforce, promote higher education, encourage a familial culture of education, and stimulate a healthier economy among disadvantaged minority female wage-earners.