2024 Community Foundation Grant: Funds Victory Nursing’s operations, as well as about 30 trainee scholarships.
When Dynisha Fresneda attended nursing school in West Palm Beach, she struggled with getting there from her home in Belle Glade.
“I didn’t have gas money,” Fresneda said. “Many days, I didn’t even have a ride. Sometimes, my sister and I would break down on the way there.”
When she finally became a nurse, she vowed to find a way to bring training opportunities to her neighbors in the Glades. She knows the challenges youth from the western edge of Palm Beach County face when they graduate from high school. There’s not much for them to do in Belle Glade, Fresneda said.
That inspired her to start a nonprofit program in 2019 to train certified nursing assistants out of her garage; she called it Victory Nursing. She enlisted her mother and aunt, both also nurses, to help launch the program.
“I bought all the supplies, everything they would need, and we did a program,” Fresneda said. “And it was successful. We had six students, all passed, and all are working now.”
She has since moved the program to two side-by-side office suites on Main Street in Belle Glade. On one side is the training room with the mannequins, beds, and all the supplies. On the other side is a computer lab that students can use for studying, training, and job searches.
Classes are offered in the mornings and afternoons. On average, about 15 to 17 students go through the program in a month before taking an exam to become a nursing assistant.
Fresneda established a partnership with MorseLife Health System, an assisted-living facility in West Palm Beach, for students to get hands-on training and jobs, too. MorseLife will even pay for the training, if the students commit to working for the facility.
A $45,000 grant from the Community Foundation this year helps pay for some of the program’s overhead and about 30 trainee scholarships. With the support from the foundation’s generous donors, Fresneda hopes to expand her training to include licensed practical nurses.
“I just really want donors to see the opportunities that they’ve gifted us here in the Glades,” she said. “It has an impact and influence. And it enables me to reach further than I ever imagined to help my community without having to walk away from it.”
