Funding roundup

A donation to the Cleveland State Community College Foundation from First Horizon Foundation will help the college connect and engage its alumni. (Photo: CSCC)

Cleveland State Community College (CSCC) has received three new grants totaling more than $75,000. The grants will help advance college-wide equity efforts.

The college was awarded two Student Engagement Retention and Success (SERS) Grants and one Open Ed Resources and Digital Engagement (OER) Grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents.

The first SERS grant ($26,000) will help CSCC update its library collection for greater representation and to create a more equitable, welcoming place for students and other patrons. The second SERS grant ($20,000) goes toward the college’s Making Academic Pathways Successful (MAPS) project, a transfer bridge program that supports low-income and underrepresented minority students. The program will target sophomores majoring in transfer programs who plan to graduate and go to a four-year college or university.

The OER Grant ($29,000) will fund a project to expand nontraditional course formats for honors courses and first-year seminar courses. Using more open education resources will allow instructors to increase collaborative learning, community-building and higher-order thinking.

CSCC also received a $10,000 donation from First Horizon Foundation to strengthen alumni connections. Some of the funds will bolster the new Cleveland State Alumni Legacy Scholarship, which serves high school students who are children of CSCC alumni. The donation also will benefit the Cleveland State Alumni Community Program by allowing the college to increase marketing and outreach to raise awareness about the alumni community. Another portion of the funds will go toward the Cleveland State Legacy Luncheon, an event held in September.

Nebraska

The grain-bin safety training program at Mid-Plains Community College (MPCC) can expand with the help of a donation from the Nebraska Grain and Feed Association (NEGFA).

NEGFA, which has provided 125 years of service to Nebraska’s commercial grain and animal feed manufacturing businesses, announced its dissolution in May. As one of its final actions, the association donated $10,000 to MPCC’s business and community education department to assist with grain-bin safety and rescue training in Nebraska. MPCC has the only grain bin safety program in the state.

“We haven’t decided exactly what the funds will be used for, but the thought is that they might offset some of the costs associated with smaller fire departments receiving grain-bin safety and rescue training,” said Tim Zehnder, MPCC director of fire science. “Most of the rural fire departments don’t have budgets for continuing education, so this could be a way to help with that in areas where this type of training is needed most.”

North Carolina

Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Paul H. Thompson Library will create a makerspace lab using a $11,936 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The college will use the grant to buy a computer, a 3D printer, a Raspberry Pi computer and a Cricut cutting machine, as well as furniture and related supplies to support curriculum programs.

The makerspace will be an active learning space where students can create, learn and share ideas to achieve their educational goals through access to a variety of educational technologies, according to Library Director Laurence Gavin.

Texas

The Alamo Colleges District will use a grant of more than $1 million to provide advanced manufacturing jobs skills training for newly hired employees at Navistar San Antonio Manufacturing, LLC. The employees will receive a total of 18,100 hours of training to prepare them for jobs as team leaders, team members and maintenance technicians.

Alamo Colleges’ continuing education department will provide the training in partnership with Navistar.

“This is one of the many job training partnerships we have in place to provide the workforce needed to keep local employers competitive in a global marketplace,” said Alamo Colleges District Chancellor Mike Flores. “This program also aligns with our goal of providing residents with the skills to qualify for high-wage, high-demand jobs that provide social and economic mobility for themselves and their families.”

The grant comes from the Texas Workforce Commission.

Virginia

A $12,000 grant will help Lord Fairfax Community College students facing challenges. The United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley is providing the grant, which will boost a program to help students facing immediate or emergency needs.

“One of the greatest challenges our students face isn’t committing to college, but struggling with financial stability from start to finish,” said Amber Foltz, LFCC’s dean of students. “We know the challenges our students face – cars that break down, lack of reliable childcare, evictions, hunger and access to mental health care, among other things – are very real threats to completing college.”

West Virginia

New River Community and Technical College can move forward with the development of a new aircraft maintenance technician school thanks to a $432,000 grant approved by the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College System.

“Our new program will support manufacturing and innovation initiatives by working with the Raleigh County Memorial Airport and the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority,” said Bonny Copenhaver, the college’s president.

New River will use the funds to hire a program director and to buy equipment needed for the program.

About the Author

Tabitha Whissemore
Tabitha Whissemore is a contributor to Community College Daily and managing editor of AACC's Community College Journal.
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