Ladders in Nursing Careers (L.I.N.C.) was a career advancement and health care work force education national program.

It was originally conceived and rolled out in New York City in 1988 as Project L.I.N.C. through two grants to the Greater New York Hospital Foundation.

It provided financial resources and support services to qualified low income and minority, entry- and mid-level hospital and nursing home employees to help them advance into licensed practical nurse (L.P.N.) and registered nurse (R.N.) positions.

Because of the project's positive results (among 419 health care workers who participated, 390 graduated from a nursing program and the pass rate on state boards was 90 percent), in 1992 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) decided to expand Project L.I.N.C. to a national scale.

Key Results
The eight sites — Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas — had the following accomplishments:

• Projects enrolled 934 participants. At the close of the program, there were 365 graduates, 328 of whom were in nursing (263 in nursing and 65 in advanced nursing) and 37 in allied health professions.
• When the program ended, according to reports filed by program sites in 1997, more than 150 students were on track to have graduated by June 1998.
• If graduation rates from the program are applied, it can be estimated that 86 percent of them (285) would graduate.
• Projects increased minority recruitment in geographic areas that had failed to bring people of color into these professions. Nearly 40 percent of participants were minority (24 percent Black, 5 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Native American, 4 percent Asian, and 1 percent Mexican).

Funding
In July 1992, the RWJF Board of Trustees authorized $5 million for a national expansion at up to nine demonstration sites across the country.

Grants under the program supported the efforts of state and metropolitan hospital associations to recruit, monitor, counsel, financially assist, and oversee the advancement of a minimum of 100 nursing students per site.

Nine sites received funding. One site (in Greater Cleveland, Ohio) subsequently withdrew from the program due to substantial changes in its health care marketplace.

The remaining eight sites were in: Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas.

Program Management
RWJF located the national program office initially at the Hospital Research and Educational Trust at the American Hospital Association in Chicago.

In 1995, RWJF transferred the national program office to the Greater New York Hospital Foundation.