Prior to the Covid pandemic, nursing experienced a rising workforce shortage, largely due to retirements in an aging workforce.  Post-Covid, the workforce shortage continued with nurses leaving and new nursing graduates feeling under equipped to practice in today's complex health environments.  Kirkhof College of Nursing (KCON) and the nursing team at Corewell Health has partnered to develop an innovative Scholars program to combat this workforce issue.  The purpose of this partnership is two-fold.  First, the Scholars program provides tuition support for nursing students to offset the cost of their nursing education and allows KCON to increase their student numbers in two of our undergraduate nursing programs.  These scholarship dollars are especially helpful for second degree students who have more limited financial aid resources.  Secondly, the program team worked collaboratively to create innovative learning opportunities and a coaching program to develop needed skills to effectively practice in health care environments that are increasingly more stressful, have episodes of workplace violence and are constantly increasing in patient acuity.  The goal of this strong academic practice partnership is to increase the pool of nurses in west Michigan and create a better prepared nursing workforce that will be sustainable over time.