Five North Carolina community colleges will receive grant funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation through its Community-Based Grants Initiative in the Piedmont-Triad Prosperity Zone. The grants were awarded for projects that will support agriculture, job creation and economic investment and workforce preparedness.
Forsyth Technical Community College will use its $309,000 grant to convert two classrooms into emergency service simulation labs to support the expansion of its emergency medical services programs. Meanwhile, Alamance Community College will apply its $1 million grant to fund a new veterinary medical technician program.
Other colleges receiving Golden LEAF Foundation grants are Davidson-Davie Community College ($725,235), Guilford Technical College ($310,000) and Rockingham Community College ($800,000).
Alabama
Gadsden State Community College’s Skills Training Division is one of several organizations to receive a portion of a $2 million grant from the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention.
Also known as the Children’s Trust Fund, the department provides annual funding to programs dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. The Skills Training Division at Gadsden State partners with the Children’s Trust Fund to offer programs funded through the Strengthening Families through Workforce Development Fatherhood Initiative grant.
“The Skills Training Division offers programs that can upgrade skills to develop better-trained employees,” said Division Director Baisha Woody said. “It also serves as a good resource for entry-level hiring needs of local business and industry.”
Kentucky
West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) will use a $50,000 grant from the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization to buy equipment for its new aviation maintenance technology (AMT) program.
The college plans to acquire aviation-specific student training aids: two 12-volt electrical trainers, a propeller cutaway and a carburetor cutaway. The AMT program is scheduled to launch in August.
Maryland
The Mellon Foundation has awarded nearly $1.5 million to the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) to fund the new Humanities for Today initiatives.
The college plans to redesign its humanities curriculum to improve student learning outcomes, increase student engagement and retention, and foster a space of inclusivity and diversity. The funding also will allow CCBC to add more professional learning opportunities for faculty.
CCBC also has received a $10,000 gift in support of the college’s interpreting program. The local deaf community often depends on interns from the program to provide pro bono interpreting services for certain events.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that companies with 15 or more employees and organizations receiving state or federal funding must provide accommodations for people with disabilities. However, many activities are not covered by ADA, including social and community events, club/rec league sports events and more.
The $10,000 donation aims to help ensure that deaf people in Maryland have increased access to these types of events not covered by the ADA. The funding from this endowment will provide stipends to interpreters, mentor interpreters and/or intern/student interpreters when they provide these types of interpreting services to the local community.
New Jersey
Ocean County College (OCC) has received a three-year $949,275 grant as part of the U.S. Education Department’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which aims to help higher education institutions improve educational opportunities for students from underrepresented communities.
OCC will use the funds to help cover students’ financial needs in areas such as food security, transportation, technology, health, housing and dependent care.
“There are many resources available to students, but few that can have as significant an impact on the life of a student as the ability to provide a financial safety net,” said James Campbell, OCC’s FIPSE grant project manager.
Ohio
Owens Community College will use a $164,782 Ohio Department of Higher Education grant to expand mental health supports.
The funds will help the college promote health and wellness services and programs, provide professional development opportunities and promote the development of master’s-level counselors in training.
The college also received a $4,137 grant from the Ohio Arts Council. Thanks to the funding, the exterior of the college’s Center for Fine and Performing Arts will get a new artistic addition.
Artist Annette Fink will lead the project as the artist in residence this summer. She will create a sculptural mural out of ceramics as well as teach classes.
Pennsylvania
A $1,000 donation will benefit Pennsylvania College of Technology’s dual-enrollment program. Susquehanna Community Bank presented the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program donation to the college’s foundation this month.
In 2022-23, the college’s dual-enrollment program worked with nearly 60 partners across Pennsylvania, allowing more than 1,700 students to earn nearly 7,000 Penn College credits.
