By: Ashmar Mandou
Instituto del Progreso Latino recently celebrated the expansion of their nursing skills labs, Instituto College. Due to the philanthropic gift of over $3 million from other McCormick Foundation, the new and renovated facilities will now feature high-fidelity simulation technology, expands hands-on practice stations, and electronic health record systems that emulate those used in hospitals.
“Instituto College was launched to train nurses who will serve as trusted voices and provide quality culturally competent care to patients throughout the state,” said Karina Ayala-Bermejo, President and CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino. “With our new facilities, students will practice on the same technology they’ll use in top-ranked hospitals—so on day one, they can walk in confident and ready.”
According to Illinois Unidos, in the state of Illinois Latinos make up 18% of the population yet only 6% of its healthcare workforce is Latino. Instituto College, located on Chicago’s Southwest Side, is dedicated to filling that gap through its 2-year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program and its 11-week Basic Nursing Associate (BNA) program, launched in 2019.
“Nursing education is a proven pathway to economic mobility, and by supporting Instituto College, we’re investing in both individual students and the health of the communities they’ll serve,” said Timothy P. Knight, President and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. “The shortage of Latino healthcare workers won’t solve itself—it requires intentional funding and partnership.” With two fully equipped state-of-the-art clinical learning spaces, Instituto College is increasing its enrollment capacity from two to three concurrent BNA cohorts per year and will offer an additional admission cycle annually for their ADN program.
“Our students will now learn on the same EHR systems and simulation equipment they’ll encounter in hospitals—that continuity eliminates a huge learning curve when they enter clinical practice,” said Instituto College’s Dean Theodora Banks, MSN, RN. “We expect this will accelerate how quickly our graduates become independent, productive nurses, which is exactly what Illinois hospitals need right now.”
To date, more than 588 individuals have graduated with a BNA from Instituto College and more than 44 have earned their Associate Degree in Nursing as practicing registered nurses. The college’s ninth ADN cohort launches this month and will train in the new facilities.
Due to the McCormick Foundation contributions, Instituto College developed a three year strategic plan from 2024 to 2027, which included this new expansion of lab space as well as increases in program staff. The ADN program is now accepting applications for the Spring 2027 cohort. Instituto College’s nursing programs are open to all candidates. For more information, visit www.institutochicago.org
