Wake Technical Community College is launching the Wake Tech Reach Project, an initiative to increase the enrollment and success of first-generation and Latino college students. The project is supported by $600,000 in federal Community Project funding.
Through a collaboration with the North Carolina State University Juntos Program, the Wake Tech Reach Project will connect with middle school, high school and first-generation college students and their families to promote college attendance after high school graduation. Participants and their families will have access to college preparation programs and will receive career exploration and success coaching.
“This exciting program will help put first-generation students on even footing with their peers as they navigate high school graduation and the transition to college,” said Rep. Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina) who helped secure the federal funding.
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A new scholarship at Central Carolina Community College will benefit students who have been in foster care.
Ken and Meg Moss have personal reasons for establishing the Moss Boys Scholarship. They adopted three of their four sons through the foster care system and “we have seen first-hand that many foster children get moved from home to home, and it can take years for them to find a permanent family,” Meg Moss said. “We hope that this scholarship will help them in some small way to achieve their educational goals.”
Massachusetts
Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) will continue its Transition to Community College Program thanks to a $162,000 grant from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The statewide program provides students with the college navigation, foundational skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college courses in pursuit of a degree or certificate.
One example of the success of the program is MWCC liberal arts and sciences major Cody Nathanson, who participated in the Transition to Community College program in 2020 and has since been selected student representative on the college’s board of trustees.
“Getting scooped up by the Transitions to Community College Program was the best way to start my degree,” Nathanson said. “The program and its advisors were amazing and a constant faucet of support and guidance every step of the way.”
Pennsylvania
The Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) will use a $87,710 grant to offer free credential training to 50 early childhood education professionals. The grant comes from Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services.
CCBC is among several education partners teaming with the Early Childhood Education Professional Development Organization at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to provide a free training opportunity. Educators can earn a no-cost child development associate micro-credential at CCBC.
The training gives Pennsylvania’s early childhood educators who work a minimum of 25 hours per week and provide care to infants and pre-school children in a licensed facility the option to move forward in their career through education and professional development.
Project Justice grants
Molson Coors Beverage Company has awarded a total of $1.5 million through its Project Justice initiative, which helps BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) organizations dedicated to equity, empowerment, justice and community building.
Milwaukee Area Technical College is one grant recipient, receiving $100,000 to provide financial assistance to students from underserved communities.
And a $100,000 grant to One Million Degrees (OMD) also will help to provide financial support and other services to community college students. OMD partners with 10 Chicago-area community colleges, including the seven City Colleges of Chicago, Harper College and Prairie State College, to provide students with academic, professional and personal support, along with financial stipends and grants.
Texas
College of the Mainland (COM) received a $307,758 National Science Foundation grant to build a new program in robotic process automation career training. The project will establish a new career pathway for COM students through a workforce program that supports industry-recognized robotics process automation (RPA) tool certifications and offers cooperative work-based learning opportunities.
Working in collaboration with local industry partners, RPA was identified by COM as an emerging and much-needed software in a growing number of industries including banking and financial services, health care, insurance, manufacturing, retail and energy. RPA allows technicians to configure software robots that run on a personal computer.
