In Maryland, Hagerstown Community College’s Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Studies (CBES) got a boost with a $15,000 contribution from Columbia Bank. CBES expects to open in late 2019 and will bring together HCC’s credit and non-credit business programs, HCC’s business incubator and area business and industry leaders.
“When we heard about the vision for the new business center at HCC, we immediately saw it as a great opportunity to get involved and help increase financial literacy in our community,” said Susan Mades, senior vice president and division manager at Columbia Bank.
Kentucky
Maysville Community and Technical College (MCTC) students interested in entering the health field will benefit from a $50,000 contribution from LifePoint, parent company to Meadowview Regional Medical Center. The funding, which will go toward scholarships, was given in tribute to MCTC’s 50 years of educating students.
Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) received $10,000 from the Gene Haas Foundation for student scholarships in the computerized manufacturing and machining (CMM) program. OCTC and the Haas Foundation have a longstanding partnership, as the college’s CMM lab is equipped with Haas equipment.
Massachusetts
Quinsigamond Community College and its partners in the Training Resources and Internship Networks (TRAIN) program were awarded a $206,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education in collaboration with the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The program provides training and education for those who are long-term unemployed or underemployed. Program participants train to become either nursing assistants or pharmacy technicians.
Beginning in January 2019, QCC will offer two 120-hour, non-credit, nurse assistant training classes and two 75-hour pharmacy technician training classes.
New York
Columbia-Greene Community College (C-GCC) has received $115,000 in grant funding for programs that support individuals with special needs. The funding comes as part of the planned dissolution of Special Needs Program, Inc. (SNP), of Ghent, N.Y.
SNP provided two $50,000 endowments for scholarships for second-year students who have made career commitments to work with individuals with special needs. And $15,000 was awarded to help fund the Community First College Experience program, which was founded five years ago to integrate individuals with special needs into the Columbia-Greene community.
Columbia-Greene Community College accepts grant funding from Special Needs Program, Inc. (Photo: C-GCC)
North Carolina
Durham Technical Community College is expanding scholarship opportunities for students thanks to a $100,000 gift from the SunTrust Foundation. The gift serves as a challenge match to encourage others to donate an additional $100,000 in scholarship support from the community.
The late Phail Wynn, Jr., originally helped establish a scholarship upon his retirement as president of Durham Tech in 2007. It has benefited local public high school graduates, with a preference toward minority male students. The additional support from SunTrust will help expand the newly renamed Phail Wynn SunTrust Foundation Scholarship to benefit two recipients annually. Each recipient will have tuition, fees, books and supplemental educational experiences, such as study abroad and service learning, covered for up to three years. Previously, the scholarship awarded partial funding to one student per year.
South Carolina
The South Carolina Technical College System will use a $100,000 investment from the Heritage Classic Foundation to expand training for skilled maintenance technicians across the state. The grant will help support Siemens mechatronic system certification programs for faculty at the state’s 16 technical colleges.
Also in South Carolina, Aiken Technical College received nearly $60,000 in grants from the State Workforce Development Board to provide free training to residents who are unemployed or underemployed. The college will implement a ManuFirst SC Certificate program, which consists of 62 hours of coursework leading to an entry-level advanced manufacturing certification.
ATC has partnered with seven companies on this initiative, including Aiken Precision Technologies, BAE Systems and Carlstar Group. These partners will consider those who have earned a ManuFirst SC Certificate for open positions, participate in post-training job fairs held for completers and will count the certificate as equivalent to one year of manufacturing work experience.
Washington
Everett Community College’s aviation maintenance technician (AMT) Masterclass program got a boost with a $60,000 donation from the Boeing Company. The program, in partnership with Naval Air Station Whidbey, is for military personnel within six months of transitioning out of the military or personnel recently transitioned (within six months) out of military service. The eight-week program prepares these military personnel to take the FAA airframe and powerplant certification exam.
“The importance of engaging our transitioning military veterans into these high-demand jobs is twofold: first, Boeing – like our community – believes helping our veterans and this is one way to do that. Secondly, it’s vital to our company success to have qualified people maintaining and building commercial airplanes,” Michelle Burreson, senior manager of workforce development at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a press release.
Wisconsin
Six Wisconsin technical colleges received Wisconsin Fast Forward (WFF) High School Student Certification grants to support hundreds of students across the state. At total of $592,813 was awarded for programs that help high school students earn college credit and learn valuable skills.
Among the grant recipients is Madison Area Technical College, which will use its $98,242 grant to help high school and middle college students train for careers in culinary arts, information technology and industrial maintenance. The grant will support up to 60 students.
The Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) Expanded High School Dual Enrollment Academies project will benefit from a $99,000 grant. WCTC will use the funding to train up to 42 high school students in either its protective services pathways or in the building construction trades.
The grants come from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
