For Immediate Release: December 18, 2025
Media contact: Katelyn Deckelbaum, katelyn [dot] deckelbaum
gwu [dot] edu (katelyn[dot]deckelbaum[at]gwu[dot]edu)
Washington, D.C. (December 18, 2025) — The George Washington University School of Nursing has received a $2.9 million federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to help address persistent nursing shortages in rural communities across Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
The four-year project, “RNs Beyond the Beltway: Driving Up ABSN Enrollment and Clinical Training in Long-term and Acute Care in Rural (non-metro) Areas of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia,” will expand GW Nursing’s accelerated degree programs, strengthen academic-practice partnerships and increase high-quality clinical training opportunities in rural long-term and acute care settings. The initiative is led by Professor of Nursing, Ashley Darcy-Mahoney and Associate Professor of Nursing, Majeda El-Banna.
“This initiative builds on GW Nursing’s longstanding commitment to advancing health and developing the next generation of the nursing workforce,” Susan Kelly-Weeder, Dean of the George Washington University School of Nursing said. “With HRSA’s support, ‘RNs Beyond the Beltway’ not only increases enrollment and clinical training capacity but also creates durable solutions to workforce shortages that affect patients across the lifespan in rural America. This recognition from HRSA highlights GW Nursing’s leadership in advancing solutions to the nursing shortage and improving access to high-quality care for populations that need it most.”
HRSA projects that nursing shortages will persist through 2037, with rural areas bearing a disproportionate burden. To meet that need, the grant will support GW Nursing’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) and Veterans to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (VBSN) programs, which enable second-degree students and veterans to transition into nursing more rapidly than traditional pathways.
Rural communities face “severe and persistent” nursing shortages, said Ashely Darcy-Mahoney, with workforce vacancy rates more than double those in urban areas, and these shortages affect patients across their lifespans from birth to old age. In her own time as a pediatric clinician, for instance, Darcy-Mahoney was particularly struck by how rural families struggled to access developmental and long-term care for children with ongoing medical needs.
The grant will fund curriculum development, faculty engagement and targeted recruitment strategies, while leveraging GW’s established partnerships with rural acute and long-term care facilities. GW Nursing will also expand collaborations into West Virginia and integrate interprofessional education with the Milken Institute School of Public Health and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences to better prepare students for rural practice.
Through this investment, GW Nursing aims to build a sustainable, practice-ready nursing workforce and advance health equity in rural communities throughout the region.
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