Funding roundup

Grand Rapids Community College will use new grant funding to train community health workers. (Photo: GRCC)

Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) and its partners will use a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase the number of community health workers in west Michigan.

GRCC is partnering with Cherry Health, Trinity Health and Spectrum Health’s Healthier Communities to train new community health workers and expand the skills of current workers. Students will gain hands-on experience by working in the field and through apprenticeships. They can earn a community health worker, medical assistant or personal care assistant certification.

California

College of the Canyons (COC) has received a $1.37 million grant from the U.S. Education Department’s (ED) Child Care Assistance Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program. The four-year grant will support the college success of 170 eligible student-parents by providing no-cost preschool services and comprehensive support services. 

Participating parents will enroll in COC academic programs that are linked to high-skill/high-wage career track jobs. Parents will have access to on-campus student and academic support services, as well as community services, such as housing, nutrition and transportation assistance. 

The grant also will fund renovations at the college’s Early Childhood Education Center and expand its hours and fund a child psychologist. 

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Moreno Valley College’s (MVC’s) Veterans Resource Center got a boost with a $1.4 million Veterans Upward Bound program grant from ED.

Riverside County has the third largest veteran population in California and the eighth largest veteran population of any county in the U.S. (27,550 veterans in the college’s service area.)

With the grant, MVC will provide more supports to student veterans, including financial aid, tutoring and mentoring.

Colorado

A $10.9 million U.S. Department of Defense grant will create a consortium to build defined engineering pathways for underrepresented students. The Denver Metro Engineering Consortium (DMEC) will include the Community College of Denver (CCD) and Community College of Aurora, as well as the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder and CU Denver and local industry partners, including Lockheed Martin.

In three years, Front Range, Red Rocks and Arapahoe community colleges will join the consortium.

The consortium aims to increase the number of underrepresented students who earn associate degrees and transfer to undergraduate engineering programs. DMEC members, led by CU Boulder, will prepare students for careers in engineering and the defense industry through summer bridge programming, skill-building workshops, paid internship opportunities and more.

Florida

Tallahassee Community College will use a $191,510 federal grant to expand training for miners. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Community College will use a $1.2 million federal grant to fund its Guidance for Realizing Individual Transformation (GRIT) program, which will serve first-generation and low-income adult learners – as well as other as other marginalized and underrepresented populations – in the metro area. The program is funded to serve 850 participants.

Participants will get counseling and information on college admissions and services to improve their financial and economic literacy.

Texas

ED has awarded College of the Mainland (COM) a $3 million five-year grant to support Hispanic students. The award will provide funding for a new Hispanic Cultural Center and will support additional mental health services and cultural awareness programming. The college also will use the grant to fund new positions related to supporting year-round outreach opportunities for Hispanic students and families.

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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