10/09/2025

LeadingAge Tackles Workforce Shortages on Multiple Fronts

LeadingAge is advancing national solutions to one of the most pressing challenges facing aging services providers: workforce shortages. Efforts now span innovation, education, and federal advocacy—each designed to strengthen the essential caregiving workforce.

Through a collaboration with Cherokee Federal, a network of tribally owned contracting companies, LeadingAge member Benedictine has filled critical roles in six rural North Dakota communities. The partnership connects immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States with providers that urgently need staff. “In addition to filling jobs,” said Kathleen Murray, Benedictine’s director of organizational learning and development, “our facilities are helping build lives and strengthen communities.” Read the full story.

Foreign-born workers now comprise nearly 28% of the direct care workforce in long-term care, and LeadingAge is helping members expand these pathways responsibly. A January 8, 2026, session in the LeadingAge Learning Hub will explore strategies for implementing and sustaining international recruitment programs.

At the national level, LeadingAge supported a bipartisan congressional letter, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), urging the Departments of Homeland Security, Labor, and Health and Human Services to safeguard the employment status of legally authorized workers with Temporary Protected Status. The letter emphasizes that losing these professionals would threaten access to quality care for older adults. Read more about the advocacy effort.

For additional resources and updates on this national workforce initiative, visit the LeadingAge workforce page.