A $2 million grant to the Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) Foundation will help Tri-C grow innovative, accessible workforce training.
The grant comes from the KeyBank Foundation and will fund crucial steps toward addressing northeast Ohio’s employment and earnings gap. Tri-C’s workforce, community and economic development (WCED) division offers more than 60 credit and noncredit training programs in high-demand fields that pay family-sustaining salaries. More than 75% of students in these programs earn low to moderate incomes and seek new career possibilities.
“This partnership will have a direct, immediate impact on students and employers and fill a critical need through enhanced workforce preparation,” said Megan O’Bryan, president of the Tri-C Foundation and vice president of development at the college.
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Marion Technical College and Apex Clean Energy announced a new partnership to help educate and train the next generation of clean energy workers with the creation of the Tymochtee Solar Scholarship Fund. Apex will provide $75,000 to the fund.
The new scholarship program will target students in the college’s electrical engineering technology – alternative energy degree program that trains students in engineering, mechanical and related fields for students seeking careers in the renewable energy industry.
CCBA grant
The Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) and partner Bragg & Associates, Inc., will continue to scale up community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees across the country thanks to a $500,000 grant from ECMC Foundation.
One of the goals of this work is to assess the needs, capacity and interest of existing and prospective CCB-conferring states to determine their readiness to confer equity-focused CCB pathways. CCBA also will work to identify successful CCB pathways to serve as models for scaling up CCB programs.
CCBA is an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Indiana
Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington received a custom conveyor donation valued at $3,300 from C&M Conveyor in Mitchell, Ind. Alumni and C&M employee Mitch Brown made the gift as a way to give back to the college.
The new roller equipment will help to store clay for ceramics classes offered by the Center for Lifelong Learning.
“Every semester, we order 2,500 pounds of clay and didn’t have a safe way to store it,” said Trina Sterling, Ivy Tech Center for Lifelong Learning assistant. “Glenn Gross with facilities called C&M for a solution and spoke with Mitch, who offered to design, build, paint and deliver the equipment at no cost.”
North Carolina
Fourteen rural North Carolina community colleges have received grants to address the nationwide truck driver shortage.
The state gave the North Carolina Trucking Association Foundation $5 million in nonrecurring recovery funds. With $2 million, the foundation collaborated with the North Carolina Community College System (NCCC) to establish the Truck Driver Shortage Grant Program.
“To support this industry, we must increase the pool of qualified applicants who meet the new requirements for entry-level drivers of commercial motor vehicles. This funding will allow colleges the opportunity to expand their capacity to offer more courses across the state,” said Barbara Boyce, interim associate vice president of workforce and continuing education at NCCC.
Funding from the grant program will help colleges hire more instructors and pay them more, add equipment to truck driver training programs and provide scholarships.
Sampson Community College was among the grant recipients. The college will use its $150,000 grant to add a bilingual instructor and an English as a second language (ESL) assistant to immerse non-English-speaking students into the program.
“This funding gives us the opportunity to serve our non-English-speaking students in a way we’ve not been able to serve them previously. A bilingual instructor and ESL assistant will teach the technical skills needed for truck driving but also build English language skills to further assist the student in skills needed in the workplace,” said Amanda Bradshaw, dean of workforce development and continuing education.
Virginia
Tidewater Community College (TCC) has received a $250,000 sponsorship and scholarship donation from Banister Automotive.
The donation will fund a new TCC Presidential Scholarship for outstanding student scholars, who can use the money for tuition, books, fees, tools and all other needed materials. Funding also will allow the college to develop dual-enrollment programs for high school students.
