Molina Healthcare of Virginia Supports Cristo Rey Richmond Students Through Sponsorship of Corporate Work Study Program
The MolinaCares Accord, in collaboration with Molina Healthcare of Virginia, is continuing a partnership with Cristo Rey Richmond High School’s Corporate Work Study Program this school year.
The program places each student at Cristo Rey Richmond in professional, entry-level jobs one day a week over their four years of high school with local businesses. Through their work, the students build social and technical skills, earn up to 50% of their own tuition cost, and learn about potential career paths, enhancing their self-confidence and work ethic in the process. This early access to rigorous, hands-on job experience sets students up for success in college and the future. In fact, all 54 students in Cristo Rey Richmond’s 2023 inaugural senior class were accepted to college.
The students Molina sponsored during the 2022 – 2023 school year worked on projects that supported their community, including making care packages for events, assembling maternity kits for pregnant Molina members, and handing out food at community events. Students also learned lessons on personal branding and career planning.
One student said, “I’ve seen myself grow a lot in the past year, and I think working at Molina has improved my professional skills. Now, when I look at myself, I’m confident that I will do well in a professional environment in the future.”
Janice Walker, Cristo Rey Richmond’s director of college counseling and alumni advising, also highlighted how the Corporate Work Study Program sets its students apart from other college applicants. In a recent Richmond Magazine article, she said, “Some students can say they worked a job at a fast-food place or retail, but [our students] worked at […] Molina Healthcare, learning about mental health issues, how to become a doctor or nurse or health care practitioner…”
Open since 2019, Cristo Rey Richmond brings a rigorous college preparatory curriculum to young people in under-resourced communities with limited economic means. Approximately 95% of the school’s graduates are first-generation college students.
Read more here about the 2023 graduating class from Richmond Magazine.
Learn more here about how The MolinaCares Accord is investing over $1 million to improve community health through its Vision for Virginia initiative.
*[Molina’s Tabitha Goode (far left), Darrin Johnson (center), and Angela Taylor (far right) stand with Cristo Rey Richmond students sponsored by Molina (one student not pictured).]