Advancing Minnesota’s nursing workforce through collaboration

With Minnesota facing a projected deficit of over 31,000 registered nurses by 2030, the Center for Nursing Equity and Excellence (CNEE) is actively mobilizing partners across the state and nation to transform nursing education and practice.

CNEE had the privilege of being the host city for the annual conference of the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers in June in Minneapolis. Connecting with this national network allows us to align Minnesota’s efforts with nationwide innovations.

The momentum in Minnesota is driven by deep, cross-sector collaboration. The annual Minnesota Nursing Workforce Summit brings together educators, healthcare executives, policymakers, labor leaders, practicing nurses, and community partners. The summit resulted in seven strategic priority areas:

1. Pathways – expanding and clarifying educational and career pipelines from K-12 through advanced practice.
2. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Nursing – dismantling barriers and ensuring access, representation, and culturally responsive support.
3. Nursing Education Innovations – redesigning curricula, faculty development, and clinical placement systems to meet workforce demand.
4. Simulation in Nursing Education – scaling simulation resources, faculty training, and mobile hubs to expand experiential learning.
5. Student Wellbeing and Flourishing – embedding resilience, wraparound supports, and financial resources to improve retention.
6. Nurse Retention, Wellbeing, and Flourishing – 
   strengthening mentorship, workplace culture, orientation protections, and leadership development.
7. Nursing Workforce Data Analytics - collecting, consolidating, analyzing and disseminating Minnesota’s data for understanding and acting on targeted improvements.