Adam Johnson, NPRC’s Vice President of Workforce Development, is pictured accepting the Rural Community College Alliance Workforce Development & Innovation Award.

The Northern Pennsylvania Regional College’s efforts to help solve the region’s EMT crisis has earned the college honors from the Rural Community College Alliance.

The NPRC was recently awarded the alliance’s Workforce Development and Innovation Award. The award was presented to Adam Johnson, NPRC’s vice president of workforce development, at the alliance’s 2025 annual conference at East Central College in Union, Mo.

The Rural Community College Alliance is based in Horntown, Oklahoma, and helps member institutions serve the 89.3 million people who live in rural America.

This organization promotes a more economically, culturally, and civically vibrant rural America through advocacy, convening, leveraging resources, and sharing innovative practices, policies, and research. RCCA welcomes institutions from across the country, and NPRC’s President, Susie Snelick, is an active participant in the alliance’s initiatives.

Through innovative partnerships with local agencies and a commitment to accessible, affordable education, NPRC recently completed a targeted EMT training program designed to address regional workforce shortages. The program provided in-person EMT training to NPRC’s 10 county service region in northwestern and northcentral Pennsylvania. The College’s efforts are not only filling vital roles but also strengthening the resilience of rural emergency services and creating career pathways in underserved areas.

The recognition highlights NPRC’s efforts to address critical rural healthcare needs through targeted EMT training initiatives. The program offered low-cost or free-of-charge emergency medical services courses thanks to the generosity of local municipalities, public safety professionals, and organizations around the region. NPRC’s commitment to accessible, affordable, and community-focused workforce training was noted by RCCA ‘as a powerful model for rural-serving institutions nationwide.’

NPRC enabled 33 rural community members to become nationally certified EMTs, with more than 20 additional certifications possible as students who successfully completed the program have up to two years to test for their national certification. NPRC’s Workforce Development division, specifically the public safety professionals within this area of the College, played a vital role in achieving this recognition.

“I was incredibly proud to accept the Regional Community College Alliance Innovation in Workforce Award on behalf of NPRC,” Johnson said. “This recognition is a testament to the incredible dedication, creativity, and collaboration of the entire team who made this vision a reality.”

New emergency medical services class dates around the region will be announced soon. .