The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, has announced grants totaling $3.15 million to help states prepare the nursing profession to address the nation’s most pressing healthcare challenges.

Awarded through the foundation's Future of Nursing State Implementation Program, two-year grants of $150,000 will establish Campaign for Action coalitions in Arizona, Maine, and West Virginia that work to transform the delivery of health care in those states and meet the challenges stemming from an aging and more diverse population. In addition, eighteen state coalitions (Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) that are already part of the initiative will receive two-year follow-up grants of up to $150,000.

The funds, which states must match, will be used to implement programs that prepare nurses to lead system change, strengthen nursing education, expand access to and improve the quality and coordination of care, and recruit and train a more diverse nursing workforce. A joint initiative of AARP and RWJF, the Campaign for Action is working to implement evidence-based recommendations for the profession developed by the Institute of Medicine.

"These grants have proven a wise investment and we are confident that this additional support will lead to even more advances," said Susan B. Hassmiller, RWJF senior adviser for nursing and director of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. "We are immensely proud of the work our action coalitions are doing to transform nursing education and practice, support nurse leadership, and diversify the nursing workforce. RWJF is committed to building a Culture of Health so that everyone in America can live a healthier life, supported by a system in which nurses are essential partners in providing care and promoting health."