Success Story Spotlight: Kylie G.

For Kylie G., the path into healthcare began early, but the road was far from straightforward. In her 11^th-grade year at her high school career center, something clicked. “I always wanted to do nursing because I like helping people,” she recalls. She enrolled in a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course and set her sights on a healthcare career, only to encounter a barrier the system had no plan to help her overcome: test anxiety.

Due to her test-taking issues, Kylie failed the CNA certification exam multiple times and was eventually forced to leave a position at a Tawas-area facility because she had not yet passed. For direct care workers—a workforce in which BIPOC and women are overrepresented due to a long history of occupational segregation, and one that is chronically denied the training investments and wraparound supports that would make advancement possible—one failed exam can close a door that was already barely open. 

The Michigan Nursing Home Workforce Stabilization Grant Program changed Kylie’s trajectory. She learned about the opportunity through Alpena Community College’s CNA training program and enrolled in the worker-centered, industry-responsive training, as well as the monthly retention reimbursement benefits. With the newfound support, Kylie applied for a new CNA position and got it. “I was so happy when I got the job at MediLodge,” Kylie remembers.  

The difference in the classroom experience this time around was immediate. Kylie had taken a CNA course before, but this program provided her with more hands-on experience and training than anything she had previously encountered. “The program taught me so much more than before, but I was still so nervous going into the CNA exam,” Kylie says. “I just had such a bad experience before that I wasn’t sure I could do it.” But this time was different, and she passed.

“It brought me real joy to pass that exam,” Kylie reflects. “It taught me not to give up on something you really want in life.” 

The sense of accomplishment she carried out of that testing room has continued to build. At first, she had not wanted to participate in the CNA program at all because of her fear of testing. Now, that same experience has made her more open to considering nursing school.

“Passing the CNA exam has made me more comfortable with thinking about applying to nursing school,” Kylie says.

She is currently completing nursing prerequisites and will apply to nursing school soon, with hopes of exploring a future in radiology. 

The program’s financial supports proved equally meaningful. The monthly reimbursements Kylie received helped her build savings toward a home, begin addressing student debt, and set funds aside for college coursework. The $500 stipend arrived at a particularly tight moment: she had charged $300 in prerequisite course costs to her credit card, a common reality for workers investing in their own advancement. The stipend allowed her to pay that balance off. These are precisely the wraparound supports the Stabilization Program was designed to provide—and that most direct care workers across the country are still left to navigate without. 

When asked what she would say to someone considering the program, Kylie did not hesitate: “Really don’t give up on something that you actually want to do, something you actually would like to have in life and have in a career.” 

Kylie’s success reflects what becomes possible when workers have access to paid training, financial relief, and structured wraparound supports, resources that the broader healthcare system still withholds from far too many workers navigating the same barriers she once faced. Her story represents what direct care careers can look like when workers have access to the worker-centered training and investment they deserve.