A senior living community in Florida awarded $44,000 educational scholarships last month to 22 of employees and dependents of employees.
Cypress Cove, a 60-acre continuing care retirement / life plan community in Fort Myers, awarded each scholarship recipient $2,000 to go toward expenses at a technical school, college or university. The 22 recipients are seeking undergraduate degrees and technical diplomas from nine institutions of higher education across the state.
“Cypress Cove’s outstanding scholarship program has been life-changing for some of our team members and their families, especially after facing personal challenges with Hurricane Ian,” Cypress Cove Executive Director Mary Franklin said in a press release. “With our tuition assistance and flexible scheduling, we make it possible for team members to advance their careers and skill sets through a wide variety of educational opportunities.”
The CCRC started the scholarship program in 2018. In total, 222 scholarships have been awarded.
Franklin, who earlier this year was named a McKnight’s Women of Distinction Spirit Award honoree for her role in the evacuation of first-floor residents at Cypress Cove during Hurricane Ian in 2022, told McKnight’s Senior Living that the scholarship program began as a way for residents to express their gratitude for their caregivers.
“The inspiration was a connection between the residents and the team members,” she said. “They [residents] had always been inspired by our young team members and cheered them on, and wanted to do something more beyond cheering.”
Initially, the scholarship program was only for younger Cypress Cove employees. Franklin, however, said that over the years, scholarships have been awarded to associates of all ages.
“The program has expanded to even family members and dependents of employees that work here,” she said. “We may have a 50- or 60-year-old who has a teenager going through college, and they are eligible for the scholarship as well.”
Franklin also said that Cypress Cove has convinced “quite a few” workers to return to school to pursue master’s degrees.
Cypress Cove tries to recruit and retain employees in several other ways, one of which is a paid nursing internship program that allows nursing students at local schools to work for pay at Cypress Cove and helping to pay for their nursing exams.
Over the past five quarters, Cypress Cove has had an 8% average turnover rate, which Franklin said is a “positive” in light of the industry’s workforce crisis.
