Health organizations and community groups around the valley will share a $5 million federal grant aimed at helping to alleviate a shortage of nurses here.

Banner Health, the ASU College of Nursing, and groups including Maricopa Workforce Connection and Chicanos Por La Causa will work together to identify people who are seeking careers in health care and help them apply for training to become nurses or nurse assistants.

The grant specifies that priority will be given to veterans, minorities, and people who have been unemployed for at least six months.

The goal is to train about 700 people for such jobs.

If the training goes as planned, it will reduce the need to hire people from other countries for health-care jobs under the federal H1B program.

Congressman Ed Pastor speaks at Thursday's announcement.