March 5, 2026
Connecticut’s Moses/Weitzman Health System Selected from 800 Applicants for $250,000 Grant from GitLab Foundation’s AI for Economic Opportunity Fund
March 5, 2026, Middletown, Conn. – The Moses/Weitzman Health System (MWHS) has been selected by the GitLab Foundation as one of16 recipients of its AI for Economic Opportunity Fund. More than 800 organizations applied for this competitive program, which supports innovative uses of artificial intelligence to expand economic opportunity across communities.
MWHS will use the $250,000 award to develop a scalable, AI-enabled career mobility engine for health centers, beginning with implementation at Community Health Center, Inc. The tool will support longitudinal career mapping and personalized mentorship for frontline staff, with a goal of reaching more than 500,000 workers over five years and driving 5 to 8 percent wage growth in year one. The initiative builds on MWHS’s national leadership in workforce innovation and applied research within the safety-net ecosystem.
“Thanks to the GitLab Foundation, we are building an AI-powered engine that strengthens, not replaces, the human mentorship that many supervisors already provide,” said Cassandra Okechukwu, Director of Research at the Weitzman Institute and Project Lead. “By scaling structured career planning so it is accessible to the entire workforce, and by designing the tool alongside frontline staff and managers, we are positioning our nation’s health centers as engines of inclusive economic growth.”
In the coming months, MWHS and fellow grantees will enter a demonstration phase led by the GitLab Foundation, receiving technical mentorship and resources from OpenAI, along with eligibility for additional funding from partner philanthropies to help scale the highest-potential projects.
“I have spent my career studying the health and economic realities of lower-wage workers in safety-net systems,” Okechukwu added. “This initiative brings that work full circle and reflects our broader vision for how responsible AI can strengthen workforce stability.”
Team members on the project include Mary Blankson, Katrina Yamazaki, Lauren Bifulco, and Thelma Nanbigne. They will be collaborating with HumanLens.ai to build the product.
