Rural Capacity Investment Fund seeks retention and recruitment ideas 

The Rural Capacity Investment Fund (RCIF) is seeking applications from health care worksites in rural and remote areas for funding to address the retention and recruitment of nursing staff.

Created alongside the Provincial Collective Agreement ratified by United Nurses of Alberta members in January 2022, the RCIF aims to allocate $5 million annually toward recruitment and retention strategies in rural and remote areas of the province. The fund also includes $2.5 million in annual relocation assistance.

UNA is working with Alberta Health Services, Covenant Health, Lamont Health Care Centre, and the Bethany Group on an RCIF Committee that will oversee and approve funding requests to support initiatives aimed at recruiting and retaining nursing staff at rural work sites.  

UNA Locals in the AHS North, Central and South zones are encouraged to submit their own proposals or work with their employers to develop initiatives to be funded to help achieve the goals of the fund. Initiatives can be site-specific or collaborations with other work sites.

Applicants must show that they are located in a rural, difficult-to-recruit areas that could include high vacancy rates, vacancies that remain unfilled for longer than 90 days, high staff turnover or other definitions agreed to by the parties involved.

Applicants are encouraged to review the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s Rural Health Systems Model. The model presents a set of key factors to better understand the unique characteristics of rural health systems.

The RCIF Committee has developed specific, weighted criteria that will be applied to all requests and will review applications as they are received.

There is no funding maximum for the retention and recruitment projects but there is a $10,000 limit for relocation requests. 

If you have any questions about the fund, please contact admin@rcif-alberta.ca.