Funding roundup

Bunker Hill Community College celebrates a $400,000 donation from the PepsiCo Foundation to the college's Uplift Scholarship Program. (Photo: BHCC)

A $400,000 donation from PepsiCo Foundation will support more than 85 student scholarships at Massachusetts’ Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC).

The PepsiCo Foundation Uplift Scholarship Program at BHCC currently supports 84 students. In addition to financial assistance to pursue their degrees, the scholarship provides access to success coaching, emergency grants and financial literacy resources.  

BHCC also received $484,000 from the U.S. Education Department’s Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Program. The grant will provide financial assistance for childcare services, particularly helping low-income students enrolled at BHCC.

BHCC has partnered with Child Care Choices of Boston (CCCB) to help eligible students connect with childcare providers and to offer support and guidance to families and childcare providers.

“Reliable, local and affordable childcare is instrumental in helping student parents focus on completing their studies and improving life for themselves and their children,” said CCCB Director Kelly Graceffa.

Arizona

Arizona Western College (AWC) and the Arizona Commerce Authority helped to secure a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide new resources for long-term unemployed individuals, dislocated workers and workers impacted by the pandemic.  

The grant to the Arizona Quality Jobs, Equity, Strategy and Training (QUEST) — a statewide coalition that includes the Arizona Commerce Authority, six community colleges and Arizona@Work — will serve six local workforce development areas. The coalition aims to provide people with access to skills training, career pathways and job opportunities.

California

The Chabot-Las Positas Community College District (CLPCCD) and a network of partners have received a $250,000 planning grant from the state to strengthen the education-to-career pipeline. 

The Bay Area K-16 Collaborative, led by CLPCCD, includes 16 school districts, 13 community colleges, five four-year universities and four employer networks. The partners are forming a collaborative model that accelerates degree completion for students of color and those with limited resources. The partnership also will accelerate pathway development and expansion in four sectors key to the area’s economy: business management, education, engineering and healthcare.

The Bay Area, Central Coast, Northern San Joaquin and Eastern Sierra regions are recipients of the planning grants from the state’s Department of General Services. The funding will enable them to subsequently submit final applications to the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program, a $250-million investment aimed to help California’s economy recover from the Covid pandemic while addressing long-standing social and economic inequities in higher education and workforce participation.

Georgia

Augusta Technical College’s (ATC) new automotive service training center is closer to becoming a reality thanks to a $1 million donation from the Knox Foundation. This gift comes on the heels of two other million-dollar gifts from Augusta National Golf Club and Jim Hudson Automotive Group.

“For the third time in the past 12 months, Augusta Technical College has received a transformational gift in support of workforce development,” said ATC President Jermaine Whirl.

The new training center will quadruple the college’s training footprint to meet the rising demand for automotive technicians and professionals in the area. Once open, the center will offer 16 certification programs to approximately 1,270 students annually as the region’s leading automotive training center.

New York

Eleven City University of New York (CUNY) institutions are getting grants to help draw young people back to school. Five of the grantees are CUNY community colleges.

The funding comes from Bold Solutions to Re-engage, a partnership between the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, the Heckscher Foundation for Children and the Ichigo Foundation.

Borough of Manhattan, Kingsborough (KCC) and LaGuardia community colleges received $250,000 grants. Hostos and Queensborough community colleges both received $40,000 planning grants.

KCC plans to use its grant to re-engage high school graduates who applied to the college but never enrolled at any college. KCC also will focus on re-enrolling first-time freshmen who “stopped out” before finishing their degrees.

With its grant funding, Hostos Community College will partner with the nonprofit FamilyCook Productions to develop a 12-week culinary health education program, followed by a certificate training program.

North Carolina

A $10,000 grant to Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) from Piedmont Natural Gas will make the college’s High School Connections program more accessible.

The program is FTCC’s branch of North Carolina’s Career and College Promise initiative. It provides tuition-free dual enrollment opportunities for eligible North Carolina high school students.

The grant will go toward paying for books and other resources for high school students from low-income families.

Tammy Thurman (center), Piedmont Natural Gas community relations manager and FTCC board member, presents a check to Mark Sorrells, FTCC senior vice president for academic and student services, and Sandy Ammons, executive director of FTCC Foundation. (Photo: FTCC)

Ohio

Lakeland Community College received a $165,000 Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills (RAPIDS) grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The grant will go toward new equipment in nursing, histotechnology, geospatial technology and dental hygiene classrooms.

“Our students having access to state-of-the-art equipment will prepare them for the workforce and make them even more suitable candidates for area employers,” said Regina Prosser, the college’s dean of health technologies.

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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