Encuentro gets grant to train Spanish-speaking home health care workers

BY RYAN BOETEL

JOURNAL BUSINESS EDITOR

An immigrant advocacy organization announced last week it received a grant to help train Spanish-speaking immigrants for career opportunities in the state’s fast-growing home health care industry.

Encuentro received a $25,000 grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico’s Blue Impact initiative to support the Encuentro’s Home Health Aide program.

“Because of this funding, Encuentro can continue to make a positive impact in the caregiving industry by ensuring that older adults receive better care and immigrant workers earn a living wage in a viable career path that offers them professional growth,” Samantha Morales, the program director at Encuentro, said in a statement.

Encuentro will train home health aides with the funding, as well as try to find potential partners to create a home health aide training center sometime next year. Encuentro, which aims to assist Latino immigrant families in educational and career development, said that in-home health care in New Mexico is among the state’s fastest-growing industries.

“Supporting our community members in the pursuit of economic opportunity and stability is a key priority of community giving at BCBSNM,” said Janice Torrez, BCBSNM president. “Encuentro is helping to remove barriers to employment by providing immigrant, Hispanic-Latino families with education and career development opportunities to build stability and prosperity for themselves, their families and their communities.”

Ryan Boetel is the business editor for the Albuquerque Journal. He can be reached at 505-823-3960 or rboetel@abqjournal. com