More than 200 rural youth are receiving free or partially paid access to 20 of Central Oregon Community College’s (COCC) summer youth camps thanks to a $30,000 grant from the Roundhouse Foundation.
Funds are paying for camp operating costs, such as instructors, equipment and transportation fees, to provide the fun, hands-on learning programs at low- or no-cost to rural students.
“This grant will enhance the lives of these students, giving them the ability to participate in camps they otherwise would not have been able to,” said Stephanie Goetsch, director of community education at COCC. “It allows us to grow the number of camps and types of camps offered, giving underserved students the sense and feeling of empowerment that they can attend college, and can even do it on a campus in their own community.”
COCC summer youth camps include subjects such as computer coding, STEM technology, dancing, writing, culinary, gardening, visual art, photography and a theater arts camp.
Georgia
Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) will use a $1 million National Science Foundation Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies grant to prepare veteran students for specialized, high-demand STEM careers.
There is an increasing demand for trained technicians in the mechatronics industry in the college’s service area. The project will implement a pathway for military veterans enrolled at GPTC to have an immersive learning experience exposing them to the mechatronics career field.
Six cohorts of 10 students each will enroll in the 16-week long program, during which time they’ll be paid $24 per hour for their training. Grant funding will go toward participant support and operational costs.
Maryland
A $2.8 million grant from the Philip E. & Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation will help Carroll Community College establish an applied technology and trades center.
“This grant will enable us to expand our capacity to train students in high-demand fields, empowering them to succeed in rewarding careers while meeting the needs of local employers,” President James Ball said.
The new Ratcliffe Applied Technology and Trades Center aims to meet the growing demand for skilled workers in Carroll County’s expanding industrial sector. The facility will offer training programs in fields such as welding, automotive technology, HVAC, manufacturing, plumbing, carpentry, animal grooming and entrepreneurship. The grant also will help to reduce barriers for students by providing direct aid through scholarships, stipends and tools.
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The Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC), in partnership with BCR Cyber in Baltimore, will receive $935,680 to fund the Cybersecurity Workforce Accelerator.
The grant, which comes from the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Build Our Future Grant Pilot Program, leverages $2 million of federal earmark funding allocated for the accelerator in the fiscal year 2025 budget as matching funds.
MACC and BCR Cyber developed the Cyber Workforce Accelerator to expand Maryland workforce development efforts and provide the state’s community colleges with BCR Cyber Series 3000 Cyber Ranges, giving access to advanced experiential training and education technology to train and certify thousands of entry-level IT and cyber practitioners. The accelerator will be available to both credit and non-credit students.
Massachusetts
Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) has received a $500,000 Sen. Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grant from the governor’s office. The grant will support for two of QCC’s workforce development healthcare programs: the clinical medical assistant and the nurse assistant/acute care nurse assistant career training courses.
The funding will serve 60 students in the nurse assistant course and 30 students in the clinical medical assistant course. It also will cover a training stipend for program completion, job placement and retention.
Minnesota
Northland Community & Technical College has received a five-year, $7.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Advanced Technological Education program. This is Northland’s second consecutive NSF grant.
In 2019, the NSF funding helped establish the National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT) at Northland’s Thief River Falls Aerospace site with a mission to educate and promote autonomous technologies throughout the U.S. NCAT brings together NSF partner institutions such as the Marine Technology Society, the Center for Advanced Automotive Technology, the GeoTech Center and the Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence.
This latest grant will fund NCAT’s continuing effort to define the knowledge, skills and abilities autonomous vehicle technicians need to serve the growing industry.
“Northland’s aviation technology programs — including uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) — is why we are recognized as a national leader in this emerging technology sector,” Northland President Sandy Kiddoo said in a release. “With the explosive growth of autonomous technology across many diverse industries, including the Grand Sky project, we are delighted to receive another five-year NSF grant to continue our research and further define the skills needed.”
North Carolina
The William Harold Smith Charitable Trust has created a new endowed scholarship at McDowell Technical Community College with a gift of $50,000 to the college’s foundation. The funds will be matched with a U.S. Education Department Title III grant, bringing the initial endowment of the William Harold Smith Memorial Endowed Scholarship to $100,000.
Scholarships will go to local high school graduates who enroll at the college full-time and have proven financial need.
Texas
The Professional Surveyors Education Foundation, Inc. (PSEFI) recently donated $150,000 to the Lone Star College-Montgomery land surveying and mapping technology program.
Professional land surveying and mapping technology is seeing a decrease in qualified workers entering the field due to an aging workforce and the lack of young professionals joining the industry. LSC-Montgomery will use the funds to pay for Texas Registered Professional Land Surveyors (RPLS) licensees’ continuing education requirements, employees’ professional education and training expenses, professional association membership dues and equipment and software for the program.
“Additionally, we plan to recruit and retain registered surveyors as adjunct professors to increase the robustness of the program and enrollment,” said Adam Salazar, LSC-Montgomery professor of land surveying and mapping technology. “These experts have over 20 years of real-world experiences that can train our students in planning projects and using industry equipment, leading them beyond basic academics and into workforce readiness careers.”
PSEFI also donated $10,000 to LSC-Montgomery in April to help students attend the National Student Professional Surveyors Competition in Washington, D.C., where they earned second place.
Washington
With a $35,000 federal grant, Highline College can send 12 to 15 hospitality and tourism management (HOST) students to Indonesia to learn about its hospitality and tourism industry.
The nine-day study abroad program will take place in Bandung, the capital of Indonesia’s West Java province, and give the students valuable insights plus hospitality and tourism management skills to help them succeed in the workplace.
The grant is part of the U.S. Department of State’s Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) Program. Highline College is one of 37 U.S. colleges and universities that will use an IDEAS grant to establish and expand American student mobility overseas in support of U.S. foreign policy goals.
