DEMOPOLIS, Ala. — A proposed public health care sciences high school in Demopolis received a $26.4 million pledge from Bloomberg Philanthropies on Wednesday, news that was celebrated by the project’s supporters.
That money is contingent on state support for the high school envisioned as a tool to not only help produce more health care workers, but to train and place those workers in Alabama’s rural communities, which over the last several decades have seen health care access worsen.
The school would accept 9-12th grade students, offer a varied curriculum with a focus on health care, and partner with more than 38 hospitals across the state to provide students with both hands-on training and future job opportunities.
The project was first proposed by Gov. Kay Ivey in her 2023 State of the State address, though with its price tag later revealed to be around $62 million, lawmakers put the project on hold, and instead, commissioned a feasibility study on the project to determine where in the state such a school would be best suited.
The Alabama School for Health Care Sciences Foundation was created to pursue independent funding that would help reduce that state’s cost burden for the project.
Sean Parker, among the three founding members of the ASHS Foundation, told Alabama Daily News ahead of the press conference at the Demopolis Civic Center that were he able to send one message to state lawmakers, it would be to “fund the school for everyone in Alabama.”
“It’s time to help the Black Belt, and this is such a unique opportunity that really could help all of the areas around Demopolis; Greensboro, Eutaw, Uniontown… it makes too much sense,” Parker said.
Founded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced on Wednesday that it had launched a $250 million initiative to create new health care high schools across the country, pledging money to ten communities across the state, including Houston, New York City and Philadelphia, among others.
By far, Demopolis was the most rural community on the list.
At the press conference, Majd Zayzafoon, assistant dean for international medical education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, spoke to the highly competitive nature of securing the $26.4 million pledge, which he reminded those in attendance was contingent on lawmakers funding the remainder of the project’s cost.
“We competed among all the states, and you can imagine, when Bloomberg Philanthropies advertises $250 million, every health system, everybody who wants to build a school will apply for it,” he said. “We were successful.”
On the school’s potential impact, Zayzafoon said the project’s ambitions were unprecedented across the country through its state funding and close relationship with dozens of hospitals across the state.
“The Alabama School of Health Care Sciences is really going to be a first of its kind school,” he continued. “It’s a state school, so it’s not a charter or private school, (and) it’s going to have a very innovative and unique curriculum, teaching all the high school core curriculum, (but) through a health care lens.”
Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Demopolis, and Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro attended the press conference Wednesday and voiced their support for funding for the project in the state’s 2025 education budget.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth has also voiced support for the project, while others, including House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, and Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, have said they would prefer to see the findings of the feasibility study before fully endorsing the project.
“I think it’s important that we see what the consultants have to say,” Orr told Alabama Daily News on Wednesday.
“That’s the reason we spent the dollars that we did (on the study). One, is it a viable concept? If so, two, where? I know there are six or seven or eight communities looking at putting this forward. And then three, is it sustainable? Wherever that location is, will parents send their children there?”
Singleton said he’s confident the feasibility study would name Demopolis as the best site for the school and put Orr’s concerns to rest.
Singleton said he was confident that Demopolis was the best choice for the location of the school not only due to their ability to secure a $26.4 million dollar pledge, but because of the preparation of its community when compared to other potential sites across the state.
“I don’t think no one else out there in the state has been more prepared than this community; I know they’ve gone to Dothan, Dothan wasn’t prepared; they were in Montgomery, they’ve been scrambling; over in Shelby County, they’ve been scrambling trying a partnership together,” he said.
“Some of those areas may be attractive in terms of having more amenities than what this area may have, but they don’t have the heart of these people, they don’t have the money that they raised, you see what this community has done. No other community can say that they’ve gone out and potentially raised $26 million for this school.”
When asked if he saw any potential for the project to not receive state funding during the upcoming legislative session, McCampbell told ADN that the project’s supporters have had more than a year to educate lawmakers on not only its feasibility, but the need in west Alabama for such a project.
“I think last session, the biggest issue was actually (that) people didn’t know exactly what it was; when you go and make an ask for $30 million, people want to know what are you doing with it,” McCampbell said.
“This year, we have the benefit of a year of education, and people have learned what the process will be, and now they know the support that we have with this vision.”
If ultimately funded by the Legislature, the school would be constructed adjacent to Whitfield Regional Hospital, and would accept its first students in 2026. The school would house approximately 400 students, and would accept youth from across the state.
Alabama Daily News’ Mary Sell contributed to this report.