Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) will use a $5 million donation to develop and launch new programming in the gaming, hospitality and security industries and to support student scholarships.
The gift from Bally’s Corporation marks the largest in CCRI’s nearly 60-year history.
The announcement was made on September 14 at the college’s Flanagan Campus by CCRI’s Interim President Rosemary Costigan and former President Meghan Hughes. They were joined by Gov. Dan McKee, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, Majority Leader Christopher Blazejewski and Bally’s Corporation Chairman Soo Kim.
Thanks to the investment, CCRI will offer students the opportunity to obtain a certificate or associate degree rooted in a comprehensive, gaming-focused curriculum. The program will encompass traditional classroom learning, online courses, on-campus learning labs and experiential opportunities at Bally’s properties.
The programs will span the spectrum of casino- and hospitality service-specific subjects, including dealer training, casino operations, cybersecurity, iGaming operations, culinary arts, hotel management and slot technology.
“The initiative, developed in partnership with the Bally’s and CCRI teams, will provide CCRI students new opportunities to learn and work as the best version of themselves,” Costigan said.
Florida
Valencia College has received a $1.3 million U.S. Department of Education grant to subsidize childcare for low-income parents attending college.
With the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) grant, the college will create a program to help low-income students with the cost of childcare through a network of quality, licensed childcare providers in Orange and Osceola counties.
To supplement the four-year grant, the Valencia College Foundation and Valencia College will leverage an additional $150,000 to support the program.
Idaho
North Idaho College (NIC) will use a $1.27 million grant to purchase new equipment for workforce training programs. The funding comes from the Idaho Division of Career and Technical Education’s Leading Idaho 2.0 grant program.
The NIC programs getting new equipment are health professions and nursing, law enforcement, network security administration, graphic design, dental hygiene, radiography technology and automotive technology.
“The purpose of the grants is to support innovation and expansion of programs that are growing locally, regionally and nationally. We need to be able to give our students the same or better technology as any school in the country so they can stay competitive in the job market,” said Vicki Isakson, NIC’s dean of instruction, workforce education.
Maryland
Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) has received a $950,121 Nurse Support Program II grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission. It will help the college enhance its licensed practical nurse (LPN) to registered nurse (RN) pathway program. Nursing faculty will create a blended instructional modality within the existing in-person LPN to RN Bridge Pathway course, giving students a flexible educational experience.
A key feature of the project is the specialized blended “LPN to RN Transition” course. For students who successfully complete CCBC’s practical nursing program and obtain their LPN license, this 12-week program serves as a bridge to seamlessly transition into the second year of the RN program, according to the college.
CCBC also will use grant to add three new full-time faculty members.
Massachusetts
A $5,000 donation check was presented at a September 12 reception for new Holyoke Community College (HCC) President George Timmons.
Gary Rome, owner of Gary Rome Hyundai, hosted the reception for Timmons to welcome him to the community as the fifth HCC president. The donation will benefit HCC’s Thrive Student Resource Center and Food Pantry.
New Jersey
Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is the recipient of a $100,000 Signature Grant from the Provident Bank Foundation (PBF).
PBF awarded three Signature Grants to fund the creation or expansion of innovative programs that address systemic problems in communities and their root causes. HCCC’s Hudson Scholars Program was chosen as a “bold and innovative program” by PBF, according to a press release.
The Hudson Scholars Program expands academic access and drives student success through a combination of proactive academic advisement, financial stipends, high-impact educational experiences and early academic intervention, according to the college.
Among the program’s successes, first-time, full-time 2021 Hudson Scholars persisted fall-to-fall at a rate that is 32% higher than that of other students. Additionally, 99% of Hudson Scholars who met with their academic counselor monthly were retained the following semester.
New York
With a $200,000 U.S. Department of Education grant, six colleges of The City University of New York will partner with the New York City-based Kennedy Children’s Center to develop courses in early childhood special education (ECSE).
The partnership, which will be led by Borough of Manhattan Community College and includes Bronx Community College, Kingsborough Community College, Hostos Community College and LaGuardia Community College among others, aims to increase the number of teachers who are certified to teach early childhood special education classes. The Kennedy Children’s Center is a community-based organization focused on early childhood special education.
The ECSE associate-degree programs that the community colleges will develop include provisions that allow students to transfer, without losing any credits, to a bachelor’s degree program at Brooklyn College, which prepares early childhood teachers to work with students with disabilities. The partnership also will provide a career pathway for teacher assistants and paraprofessionals currently working in the field, helping to address a critical shortage of ECSE teachers, as well as a scarcity of male teachers in the field.
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The National Science Foundation-Hispanic Serving Institution has awarded a collaborative grant to Queensborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College and Queens College to develop a wastewater-based epidemiology student training and education program.
LaGuardia received $152,838 and Queensborough received $143,364. Queens College, the lead institution, received $699,469.
Wastewater-based epidemiology is an emerging technology that can warn of future pandemics. At the community colleges, the grant will support courses that integrate research in the classroom. The funds will also support release time for science faculty for professional development.
North Carolina
Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) has received a $900,000 sub-award grant to partner with North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the North Carolina Extension Service in Lee County to facilitate the YEA Juntos Program at Lee County High School.
The NCSU Juntos program received a five-year, $7.8 million grant to create a STEM Agriculture Pathways model with a focus on serving Hispanic and Latino youth. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America program.
